Apocalypse
by Nagareboshi Star
Summary: "Together with you, I would race towards the end of the world and back, just to prove to everyone that I can, and would, as long as you are by my side." It began with a phobia and ended with a wish. SSM 2014
1. Phobia

_**A/N: EDIT (23/09/16) - Yeah, here I go updating this little story a bit in order to get myself into writing again! My girlfriend convinced me...**_

_First I want to mention that, so I assume, the prior title has scared off potential readers; which does not surprise me seeing as it sounded very unprofessional, as if I were some random 13 year old trying to punch together weird jazz...well, that is not the case! I am actually a university student in the departments Japanese and English studies, so you can assume that I take this story very seriously! It is multi-faceted, of course, with romance and humour, angst, horror, drama and everything you can imagine, but the idea stemmed from a dream I had during the time of the original publishing date of this ff. It was weird, but intense, so I hope you guys will enjoy this piece and give it a go, despite the randomness within!_

_Oh and: this WAS based on the SasuSaku Month quest of 2014 - if you search for the prompt titles, you'll find a nice calender entry for July. I was supposed to have finished it years ago, duh, but I lost motivation quickly, which I hope to change of course! So I am trying my best to get this piece done for you, it shan't be too long anyway, and some prompts will be punched into one chapter._

_Anywho's: enjoy! And please remember to review at the end of the chapters!_

* * *

**Chapter 1: Phobia**

Her heart drummed rapidly, her breath coming out in a jagged rhythm as her wide, malachite eyes scanned the horizon feverishly.

They would be here any minute. Any second.

Her heart throttled her, palpitating so incredulously fast she thought that, if it didn't come jolting out of her mouth, her ribcage would be exploding at any given moment. Locks of rebellious rose-tainted hair flew wildly around her head, sticking vehemently to her cheeks and forehead.

Next to her, on the grime-covered ground lay Sasuke, panting, curled together like a foetus from all the pain he was experiencing.

"Hold on in there Sasuke! Just...hold on!" Her voice was desperate and laced intently with worry and fear.

What if he didn't make it? What if _they_ came first? Another ragged breath escaped her chapped lips.

She could hear them. The growling, the vicious snarls, see the glow of neon rainbow colours...

"Hold on Sasuke..."

* * *

_A few days or weeks earlier..._

* * *

This was ridiculous.

Sakura couldn't believe she was undergoing this feeling when her future was supposed to be glorious and heroic. Well okay, a little bit too much make-up on there, but she _still_ saw herself bright and shiny and all adored and admired. _The great Haruno Sakura!_ \- they would call her that, in all the newspapers, interviews, documentations, books, hell, maybe even action figurines or plushies!

Okay, maybe _those_ _last_ _two_ _items_ wouldn't have it written all over them. But maybe inscribed somewhere small, in the corner, on a tag, or some place. But it _would_ be on there. Sakura knew every sane person standing in front of her would double over, laughing coherently at her absolutely idiotic idea of a future, but could you really blame this girl? All she had were her dreams, accompanying her at night and making every morning worthwhile.

So what if there were millions and trillions of doctors occupying this earth, saving and, dare she think about it, killing patients in a steady go-beat. Amongst all those so called _gods in white_, she would be the _star_. A saviour. Rescuing lives, bringing smiles to the sickly and bringing hope to those who are literally about to knock on death's door.

"Come on, Sakura, you can do it, just a routine vaccination..."

The sixteen year old teen tapped her foot impatiently against the pristine tiled floor, eyes focused vigilantly onto her faded reflection within them.

A vaccination. It was just a vaccination. Once she was _superstar Dr. Haruno Sakura_, she would be giving them daily, without thinking about it, so professionally that she could do it blind. But god – that cruel, almighty power that apparently resided somewhere up in the unreachable heavens, decided that when Sakura was born, he should not bless her but _curse_ her instead.

With what, you may wonder?

With Trypanophobia.

Or Belonephobia.

Sakura wasn't sure which of those it would really be. She hated knives and scissors as much as any other sharp, glinting object, but she was pretty sure the needle topped it all. That ominous, obscene object that restlessly infiltrated innocent people's arms and bums, pouring fluids inside or stealing their much-needed blood.

Okay wait, that sounded _ridiculous_ too.

Injections and blood tests were life saviours. Sakura knew that more than anyone, wanting to become a doctor since the delicate age of _four_. She would, against all the odds that stood up before her, have to overcome her earth-shattering fear and learn to accommodate herself with her overly _pointy_..._friends... _The thought alone made cold, icy shivers chase across her spine. Goosebumps rose on her skin.

_'Oh god...No way out of this. If you want to be a great doc, you have to put vaccinations behind you like they are cheesecakes. Ugly name, but great nonetheless.'_

Stupid comparison...

"Haruno Sakura!" A firm, female voice called at the door to the treatment room.

Gulping down the speedily growing lump in her throat, she stood up with as much confidence as she could muster.

"H-Here..." She approached the doctor and entered the room.

"Well then Haruno-san, I am Dr. Nakamura." The tall blond lady threw her a friendly smile, checking something on a clipboard she held in her hands before peeking over at the buzzing laptop.

"If you would please take a seat then." She spoke, going over to a table and grabbing a small bottle and a syringe wrapped in fresh plastic.

Nervously, her hands trembling so bad she could have been declared a rare case of early parkinson's disease, the pinkette sat down in a simple chair, watching attentively as the doctor prepared the vaccination, firstly putting on some latex gloves.

"So, I heard you want to be a doctor when you're older?" It was the most simplistic attempt at comfort: small-talk.

The lady probably _smelled_ her fear and wanted to _talk her through it_.

"Y-Yeah..." Sakura doubted her trick would work though.

Dr. Nakamura stepped in front of her, bending forward, checking her arm, "It won't hurt darling, it's just a quick prick." There was a tone of encouragement within her voice, and Sakura tried to concentrate on it.

Squeezing her eyes shut, counting to ten, feeling the clammy sweat trickling down the side of her temple, her heart thumping dramatically, Sakura listened intently to the doctor's blabbering.

One, two, three...

_Then_ she made her grand mistake. She opened her eyes too early, too curious and fearful, wanting to know _where_ exactly the overly thin item was, wanting to see _when_ the impact would arrive – only to have her stomach lurch. The needle was millimetres away from touching her soft alabaster skin.

"N-no..." Sakura stuttered, jade orbs large with panic, "I-I can't! Sorry, I can't!" She jolted from her seat, taking a measured step back from the doctor, who threw her a rather irritated glance.

"I'm sorry!" Sakura cried with frustration before she bolted outside of the treatment room and along the hospital's corridor, past some curious onlookers, right towards the entrance and outside into the fresh night air.

* * *

"You _ran away_!?"

Sakura tried to avoid her best friend's incredulous stare; large, cerulean eyes shimmering with shock. Not daring to raise her eyes, she took a bite off the _onigiri_ within her _bento_.

"_Sakura!_ You want to be a _doctor_ someday! Doctor's aren't scared of injections. It's part of their daily routine!"

"I know, Ino, I know! I'm not proud of myself either. I just..."

"Got cold feet." The blond bit off a piece from her sandwich, shaking her head over and over again Sakura was surprised she wasn't feeling dizzy.

They were sitting underneath a very large cherry-blossom tree – Sakura's namesake, which was the reason they chose _this _tree type, both enjoying their lunch after having had several hours of straining physics, maths and literature.

"What did your mom say?" Looking into her eyes, the rosette gulped down the piece of fried vegetable bitterly.

Suddenly, _yasai tempura_ simply didn't taste as good anymore. And she was sure as hell that it weren't the green pepper's fault.

"She was pretty mad. Said that I can forget my dreams, I will never make it through to my medical degree like this."

"Well, she's _right_."

Sakura sighed shakily, "I know, I have to go again the day after tomorrow. Mom's coming along to make sure I don't dash away again..."

"What honour of her accompanying you!" There was a mocking tone in her voice, "Well, good, otherwise _I'll_ join you, Forehead! I've had it done, it's no big deal!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, not wanting to imagine a doctor's visit with _Ino_ at her side. The girl was simply too loud and attention-seeking.

Suddenly, a sonorous chorus of squeals erupted from the park area of their school, as if a boy band had just arrived at their concert.

"What's going on there?" The rosette questioned, placing her _bento_ down and trying to glance over the small hill they sat behind.

"Probably the new kid everyone's talking about." Ino declared rather unenthusiastically, glaring at her sandwich as if it had just committed a crime.

"New kid?"

Sakura hadn't heard anything about a new kid coming to their school. A school for _intellectually gifted and talented young spirits_, as their headmaster put it. He forgot the part with: _and super rich parents who don't know what to do with all the money so we kindly offer **assistance**. _

"And he's got a face like Justin Bieber, or why are they screaming as if there were no tomorrow?" Sakura asked in confusion, hating it when the beautiful peace and silence of her _little haven_ was disrupted.

Yes, she called her spot underneath the grand cherry-blossom tree a s_afe_ _haven_. Because it felt like it everytime she was there.

"Well,_ no_, but the face of an Adonis? _Yes_."

The rosette glanced over at her friend, who was back to munching down her lunch.

"You saw him?"

"Yup."

"And you say he's super handsome?"

"Yup."

"So...why are you still sitting _here_ and not over _there_, first row, throwing yourself at him like you do with every good-looking male being?"

Ino gaped at her with a scowl, obviously displeased about the comment, "_Excuse me_, Forehead, I do _not_ jump random guys who have the looks of a god-"

"Yeah right, continue."

"-before not knowing _whom_ I'm hunting first."

"Aphrodite would be proud of your choice of words." Sakura teased, giving her a fake look of appreciation.

"Whatever. The reason why I'm _here_ and not _there_, my dear sophisticated friend, is because the new star of _Konoha's Academy of Prosperous Students_ is an _Uchiha_."

Sakura blinked once, twice, three times before she noticed that _nothing, _no, _absolutely nothing_ within the cogwheel system of her brain was making any _click_ or _ding_ sounds.

"And that means...?" She gave her friend an expectant glance.

Ino's eyes widened once more that day, _"Wait_, you are _not_ telling me you _don't_ know who the Uchiha's are!?"

Slightly embarrassed, Sakura shook her head sluggishly, "I fear...not..."

"Oh my God, Forehead! They are just like, the most powerful and famous family in the whole universe. Or rather, they _were_."

"Uhm...?" A frown began to form on her visage, Sakura scrambling her memory again for any sign of the word _Uchiha_.

"It was all over the news just a few years back. The elder son of the Uchiha family went crazy, apparently. He was some sort of mad hobby scientist. He did an experiment in his house and killed his entire family in the process. _Except_ for his younger brother."

She rattled it off so casually Sakura thought she might as well be reading some boring novel she had thumbed through countless times.

"_Excuse me_!? His brother- _what!?_ Why!?"

"Why what?"

"Ino!"

"Okay, calm down!" The azure-eyed teenager sighed, rolling her eyes in annoyance, "I don't quite know, apparently he stood under the influence of an elder Uchiha member, was somehow driven crazy. He seemed totally normal on the outside. In the news at least. Yet he intended to kill his entire family, but he loved his brother too much so he left him alive."

"H-How did he kill them...?" Sakura feared the answer already.

"Not sure, I forgot that little detail...I think through some poison or something."

Her malachite eyes were wider than they had been the day prior, when she was _nearly_ vaccinated.

"That's _horrible_!"

"Yeah, I know. Everyone thinks his little brother, Sasuke, could become a psychopath too one day. He grew up in complete solitude. They said he didn't have any foster parents and nothing, even though he was a kid when it happened. He's really weird and, well, _cold._"

_"_So remind me..._why_ are all the girls of our school screaming like they just received a marriage proposal?" Sakura wasn't sure she wanted to know _that_ answer, either.

"Well, ignoring all the crap with his family and stuff, he is chocking hot, _and_ rich. It's a double win really. Girls tend to ignore the pesky little _dark facts_ when it's about guys like Sasuke."

"But you don't."

"Obviously."

"_Obviously_."

"Hey, I'm not _that_ loony! And besides, I'm more hooked on that sweet little artist from room 15 than to have time giving Sasuke any attention."

"Sai, you mean." Sakura squinted her eyes as she recalled the name.

"_Yeah..._" Ino gave her some serious dreamy eyes, which the pinkette ignored, looking over the hill again, wondering what this _Sasuke_ must be like...

Little did she know that she would be finding out more than she could have ever hoped for.

* * *

Sakura entered the room number A-7, books stacked in her arms to an absurd height as she waltzed her way towards the table, placing them down with a loud _thud_. An abrupt _knock_ caught her attention instantly, the pink-haired girl swinging her head towards the door.

There stood, all tall and dark and mysterious, a boy with the most appealing features she could have ever imagined. An edged jaw, lined smoothly, with an aristocratic nose and onyx orbs that pulled you under their spell almost immediately. Wild, defiant strands of obsidian hair sprouted in every direction from his head, giving him the total _bad boy_ appearance. That, topped off with his black jeans, large boots with metal chains and cleats, the rebellious _AC/DC_ shirt he wore together with an ashen coloured leather jacket.

_'Uchiha Sasuke, I guess..._'

"I take it you are not the biology teacher." It was rather a statement than a question.

_'Wonderful'_, Sakura thought with an inner sigh, _'He's got the voice of a prince.'_

"You're right. I'm _not_."

A sheer expression of vexation adorned his features, his night-like eyes glancing to the side.

"Any way, I might be able to help you?" Sakura asked, somehow sympathetic of his situation now that she recalled her conversation with Ino earlier.

Interestingly enough, the rosette also felt a hint of regret upon wording that question.

She wasn't sure why.

He flung a stack of stapled papers onto the table in front of her, giving her a rather nonchalant look, "I was told to seek out these various teachers and ask them for my course books. They recommended I do some catch-up reading."

Sakura nodded in understanding, "Ah." She peeked down onto the paper and saw their biology teacher's name scrawled on there, together with "_A-7"_.

"Well, seeing as I've been at this school for far longer than necessary," And now she walked around the table, trudging to the back of the room where a cupboard stood, opening it and protruding a thick lecture book, "I know where all the material is. Here you go." She approached him, halting a good metre in front of the boy as she reached out her hand with the desired object.

He grabbed it reluctantly, frowning at her. At least she _thought_ he was frowning, "Thanks..."

"My pleasure." she smiled quickly before returning to her own stack of books.

"Say..." he spoke, eyeing the book in his hands, "You wouldn't mind telling me-"

"Teme!"

Both teenagers whipped their faces towards the entrance, where a third person now stood; tall, blond, tanned, and eyes so bright the sky would be jealous.

_'Uzumaki Naruto'._

"What do you want, Dobe?"

"I've been looking for you, bastard! I found the psychology teacher!"

"Great..." the lack of enthusiasm in Sasuke's voice seemed to drain the entire room of its cheerfulness.

If there were any of that _in_ here in first place.

"C'mon, let's go!" Naruto darted from the entrance as quickly as he had come, just to jump back again with an exploding grin, "Oh! Hey Sakura-chan!" And gone he was.

Sasuke sighed, obviously displeased.

"What were you gonna ask?" Sakura questioned just as Sasuke made his way towards the exit.

He turned one last time, throwing her an impassive glance, "Nothing, forget it."

The pinkette shrugged, watching as the mysterious Uchiha left the room, glad she hadn't broken out in cold sweat as the constant memory of his past haunted the back of her consciousness.

* * *

_**A/N: So here is chapter 1! Lengths will vary depending on...well the prompts I guess! Tomorrow, chapter 2 will bring QUITE some action and twists...**_

_**So if you want to read chapter 2 and find out how the apocalypse starts, REVIEW!**_

_**You will get wonderfully hot, steaming cookies with cocoa and a Sasuke plushie!**_


	2. There Was No Warning

_**A/N: Wheeeee! Chapter 2 is ouuut! Thank you for having made this years SS Month so superbly superb! I am exploding with inspiration, haha...**_

_**Thank you for the fav's and reviews guys! You shall know that every review inspires me and encourages me to go on. I read them all, they make me all giddy and excited!**_

_**So please keep going!**_

_**Here is chapter 2, happy SS month!**_

* * *

**Chapter 2: There Was No Warning**

There was no warning.

Nothing.

Yet the signs had been there.

Sasuke hat taken discrete note of them, yet decided to not pay further attention. It was not usually a subject that interested him much, so he doubted anything significant would occur if he acted all detective-like.

To clear things up a little: he meant the start of the apocalypse, of course. The beginning, the gradual development of one chaotic situation leading to the next.

It all really began with his school. At _Konoha_ _Academy_, food was known to be first class. _Obviously_. The pathetic system had to serve _some_ sort of quality considering the amount of cash they pulled out of the pockets of hard-working parents daily. Sasuke knew, because he oversaw his bills personally. Being the last survivor of his tragic family name, and thus having inherited a vast amount of inhumane wealth that could feed entire countries for years and years on, Sasuke liked to see what happened to his possessions. Where it _went_. It had not been _his_ idea attending this snobbish, stuck up piece of a school building, but that of his countless advisor's.

Why Sasuke adhered, he would never quite know. Something told him he simply _had_ to. Another part was convinced it would have been the choice his parents, had they still been alive, would have gone for.

So anyway, lunches at _Konoha's Academy_ _of Prosperous Students _was not simply a burger with some over-fried chips. It was close to a five star restaurant's serving. Quality had to be right, checked over and over, with only the best and most natural ingredients, fresh and clean and from the most expensive farmers that Konoha itself had to offer. And other countries, of course.

So when the teacher's declared that a handful of students were sick, having stayed home due to some sort of food poisoning, Sasuke should have been more alert. He should have taken the hint and asked the most obvious question: _food poisoning at Konoha Academy? How is that possible? _He should have started his investigations then.

Especially seeing as it was not _one,_ no not even _two_ but a _handful_ of students.

The second sign for the commencing of the apocalypse was the fact that, after two weeks, half the school was missing. Students all sick and retching, remaining at home, some being under serious care. Had the building ever been so devoid of human life? Sasuke wouldn't bother to consider that question, he enjoyed silence after all.

Nonetheless, teacher's did not warn about the possibility of further students falling victim to the seemingly vicious meals served in the luxurious cafeteria. They themselves ate peacefully, as if half the school missing was not a big deal.

_'Wrong you nut-heads.' _

There were no news reports either; something about other schools maybe, or other areas being hit by the wave of a new virus or infection or _whatever_.

There was simply. And plainly. No. Warning.

Something was _off_, Sasuke should have _known_!

The third, and most obvious of all signs – or rather, the evident beginning of the apocalypse was marked by the event Sasuke experienced as he returned home from another insipid school day. It was rather strange, recalling this memory.

He opened the gate; not after telling his bodyguards and security to back off, because he could freaking open a bloody gate by himself and was sure he would not explode into millions of pieces during the process. Entering his family complex; the grass glistening with watery freckles from the sprinklers that had been on barely minutes ago, Sasuke trudged towards the grand entrance door.

Only to halt dead in his tracks when he came past the spot where the dog kennel sat.

He had a large, black Labrador Retriever called Lucy living in that kennel. When Sasuke had been younger, he did not share much of a bond to Lucy; the always alert and protective guardian of the house. She had been more fixated on his brother, who never missed a day of going by to see her.

After the tragic occurrence only eight years ago, Sasuke had been left with nothing; nothing but the presence of Lucy, who somehow became a loyal friend, even though _he_ did not go by _every_ day to give her a pat or a stroke through her silken fur. Yet he would be lying if he stated that he did _not_ have somewhat of a bond with the elderly canine. And it was quite common for her to exit her kennel everyday when he came, raising her muzzle to the air as she smelled her master's scent, wagging her tail appreciatively when Sasuke glanced over, throwing her a tiny smile before entering his mansion.

To his utter _shock_, however, Sasuke had to discover that Lucy wasn't inside her kennel. Or at least couldn't exit. Because _someone_ was crawling on all of his fours _into_ her kennel instead. Some strange growling noises came from inside, a vicious _rip!_ noise as if something resilient had been torn with much force; a weird snorting before the crawling.._man_ shuddered, banging his head, doing whatever he did inside there.

Sasuke had a pretty nasty feeling in his gut.

"Oy!" Sasuke called in a low tone, frowning at the strange scene.

All the bodyguards around didn't seem to notice it.

_'Pathetic idiots...'_

"Oy there! What're you doing!?" The obsidian eyed boy couldn't help the dark, bitter edge his voice was receiving as he trudged across the grassy field, approaching the kennel.

Finally, the figure moved backwards, outside the kennel, and gradually, with extreme struggle, righted himself. Sasuke eyed a wool jumper, a shirt hanging out at the edges and some slacks from behind.

He did _not_ see the rotten, fallen face of the guy, the sunken eyes and empty, glazed over effect they had; skin hanging in tatters and shreds across blackened skull, maroon blood crusting his lips and gaping, void-like holes as if someone had poured acid across his visage. Tufts of raven hair flew across his head.

At least, not until the guy turned around.

"_What the-" _

Another vibrating snarl, the monster opened its jaw and revealed some rather ugly, crippled ochre teeth that not even a medieval man would have wanted to have. Sasuke's eyes widened in horror, he took a well-measured step backwards.

He flung a quick glimpse over his shoulder and towards his so-called bodyguards, just to realize that their faces had similarly _decayed_ as this one's, and all of them were moving towards him as if in a trance, making those weird, hissing, growling noises.

"What the fuck is going on..." Sasuke breathed silently, stepping back rapidly and inspecting his surroundings.

Fortunately, he discovered a large iron rod leaning against a willow tree in the garden – probably part of some gardening equipment. Unfortunately, the piece of metal was quite a few metres away.

_'Screw this_' Sasuke spun himself 180 degrees, sprinting off towards the tree, the lowly bellows behind him growing impatient as he felt the earth thudding with approaching Zombie feet.

With a well-measured jolt, Sasuke reached the tool and grasped it with both hands, swinging around at full force just in time to smack _Mister Kennel-Crawler_ dead in the face, sending him spiralling a few metres towards the ground. The disturbing image of a twisted head and broken neck would haunt Sasuke for many nights afterwards. But what topped it off was the fact that suddenly, some sort of gas exited out of the hole that had formed due to torn skin around the neck area.

At first it shone a poisonous green, soon mingling with tinges of vibrant violet, fuchsia, orange, illuminating turquoisy blues and indigo's and a sickly amber. The neon-glowing substance spread across the whole body of the man, wrapping him in a thin blanket and giving him a radioactive shimmer.

He snapped his head back with a gagging _crack! _sound, hauling himself leisurely to his feet, his deranged face focused entirely on Sasuke. He was no longer a simple zombie. He was a neon-glowing, rainbow coloured zombie.

"What the _living_...am I dreaming or something?" Sasuke frowned, staring at thin air until he realised, to his utter astonishment and disbelief, that all the other monsters, made up of his bodyguards and servants, were similarly emitting that rather peculiar gas, which now shone through their skin as if they were walking glow-sticks.

A whole crowd of neon rainbow zombies.

_'Shit.'_

Sasuke did the only logical thing anyone could have done at this particular moment.

He made a run for it.

Backing behind the tree, rod still in his hands, he jogged across the grassy fields, briefly throwing a look over his shoulder. To his dismay, those crippled _weirdos _knew how to run a marathon; they were coming up close.

"Crap!" Pushing all of his strength into his legs and feet, Sasuke raced full power towards the nearest wall, pouncing up a metre before dropping the iron rod and holding onto the edge of the white-painted bricks.

He hauled himself over full force, landing with a loud _thud_ on the other side, panting desperately. He heard the soggy noises those bastards were making as they approached the barrier, most likely confused as to where the black-haired boy had gone. Yet Sasuke did not want to take any chances - glancing around feverishly, not noticing _anyone_ at all on the streets, he ran across the road, no car to be seen moving anytime soon.

Through countless side-roads and passages he went, his eyes always nervously scanning his surrounding. Was this really not just some _weird nightmare?_ That would be the only logical explanation, Sasuke pondered.

But his flaming lungs, his aching legs and the dizziness that befell him due to the lack of water he had consumed all day long felt so _very real. _

Entering what seemed to be the edge of the heart of the city, Sasuke heard further growling bellows. His orbs picked up the illuminating shimmer of rainbow gases that curled around the air, entrapping several zombies that all seemed to _smell_ Sasuke's presence. They turned their semi-decayed faces towards him, pupil-less eyes fixated on his figure. They began closing in on him, and Sasuke once more frantically searched for a form of defence.

A golf club exposed in the window of a sports shop finally got his attention. Thank the Lord he stood right next to the entrance.

Sasuke slammed into the door, jumped over the decorative cardboard printing, grasped the nearest club and exited again. He smashed a zombie that had just run towards him in the chest, sending him flying across the street. Another one approached, and Sasuke thanked all angels up in heaven his father demanded he take _Kendo_ lessons.

They came like an overwhelming flood, baring disgusting fangs at him, drooling, howling and hissing as they tried to...well Sasuke did not _know_ what they wanted to do with him, for he hit his club into their bodies before they could get close enough. The Uchiha whirled around with his makeshift weapon, constantly spinning on his own axe so that not one of those beasts could come near enough.

Except for the noises they were making and the rotten state of their flesh, they were in a normal condition. The fatter zombies were slow, the younger, more athletic zombies were fast. If the zombie had previously been a runner or football player, you had slim chances of outsmarting him speed-wise, but if he was some bulky couch potato, you need not worry that he could catch up.

The young boy darted down the streets, watching the hazy sun set snugly behind the large mountains and row of orange-tinged clouds. Everything took its normal toll, nature did not care about the fact that a zombie apocalypse had just broken out. Or rather, a _rainbow zombie apocalypse._

With all the fighting and running and the increasing exhaustion that was taking over his steadily weakening body, Sasuke searched for the nearest hiding spot – which he found in form of an isolated building site. He entered, taking careful steps, ears perked for any abnormal sounds, but he only heard dead silence mixed with the heavy thumping of his heart.

Panting strongly, he sighed in relief, glad he still had his school bag with him. He swung it to the ground, opening the zip and glancing inside. With quick grasps he thrust the books out, only leaving a notebook and pencil case inside, as well as a water bottle he had bought at a vending machine earlier that day, together with a sandwich the kitchen staff had so kindly made for him.

Probably a zombie too, now.

Taking huge gulps of water and contentedly moaning as it trickled soothingly down his throat, Sasuke tried to clear his thoughts and think this through as he wolfed down the sandwich.

So he was caught in some gruesome, laughable horror movie. Glowing zombies shimmering in every colour of the rainbow known to mankind... Next thing he knew, makeshift skeletal unicorns would appear with zombies riding on their back, neighing like blood-thirsty vampires (whatever that would sound like).

The director belonged fired.

But first, and foremost the grand one-million-dollar question: _how the hell did this happen!? _What's _wrong _here!? How come Konoha City suddenly turned into the setting for _"Resident Evil 6"_?

Something was up, and Sasuke had this terrible, gut feeling he already knew the answer. Or at least, where to find it. He grimaced, his eyes turning a shade darker.

Suddenly, something rustled diagonally from him and he jolted with a shiver. His blood-smeared golf club had been left abandoned somewhere on one of the streets – after smashing and hitting numerous zombies over and over, making them even _more_ deformed than they already were, the overly prized metal began to bend until it finally broke, snapping loudly and clattering to the floor.

He needed a new weapon. Something _better._

"Who is there?" It was an idiotic question. Maybe the zombie wouldn't have noticed him, but Sasuke couldn't help it.

There was a tiny glint of hope within him praying that there was still _someone_ left alive with sanity _somewhere_ in this cursed place of a city. He heard the sound of a sharp inhale, then caught a hint of pink hair swinging through the air.

_'Must be another zombie..._' He prepared himself, eyeing a few dusty pieces of broken brick as if they were his new best friends.

"W-Who're you?" A weak, sonorous, feminine voice stopped him in his thoughts.

He watched with large, attentive orbs as from behind a pillar that stood to steady the foundations, a girl appeared – pink hair tied into a messy pony tail and huge, glittering malachites for eyes.

Wait...

He _knew_ this girl.

"You." He spoke in recognition, now remembering her from their first encounter at school, where she had handed him a biology book.

How long was that ago? A week maybe?

"Uchiha." She responded, similarly stunned as he was.

He glanced around suspiciously, not discovering any other presence. Grasping his back pack, he slowly approached the pinkette, "Please tell me there are others like you." His tone was somewhat sinister considering the hopeful question.

"I don't know..." he could tell by the crack in her voice that she must have been crying just a while ago, "I have only met glowing zombies up until now..."

"Yeah, me too."

He halted in front of her, sizing her up. She was a good head smaller than him, with a very slim figure, only slightly curved and generally a petite stature. She didn't look weak, but neither overly sporty.

"How did you make it up until now?" Maybe it sounded insulting, questioning her survival tactics, but he was curious, and the world was being a twisted asshole right now anyway.

"I-I just...ran away." Sasuke could decipher the fear that hid within her eyes, sparkling ferociously, "They were all after me, but I just...I had a baseball bat earlier, I smacked one of them and his arm flew off – it was _so_ gross, I screamed, I just ran, and I ended up here."

She was breathing fast now, the shock most likely returned into her system.

"Alright, calm down." He handed her his half-finished bottle of water, watching as she gulped it down eagerly, evidently dehydrated too.

"Why're we here...? I mean, what happened, how come everyone's like...and w-we..." she began to stutter, her lower lip trembling uncontrollably.

Sasuke feared she would begin to cry again any second. He _really_ didn't need that. He could not deal with crying girls. _Ever. _

"Okay, just, don't worry, I know this is weird but firstly, we gotta find some way out of..." out of where? Out of town? Country? Continent?

How far had the..._disease _spread? The young Uchiha did not know. His super high intellectual and skills did not seem to do him many favours _now_.

"We need to find somewhere safe. And some food. And then we need a plan." Usually, the raven-haired boy preferred solitude in everything he ever undertook.

But when a rainbow zombie apocalypse breaks out, you are happy about any company you can find that does _not_ want to...well whatever those guys wanted from them. Probably eat them...

"What about this place?" The girl whispered, and it occurred to Sasuke that he had not asked her name yet.

"Not safe enough. We'll go find a supermarket or something, grab some provisions and then seek a safe haven for the night." Sasuke frowned after he finished his sentence, his brain going into overdrive, "We need weapons first..."

"There's an antiquity shop close by, down the road. Only a block. I think I saw some old swords and daggers in there." She seemed to lose her fearfulness and gained some determination.

"Good, then we head there first."

"Alright." She nodded, eyes focused on him.

"What's your name?"

She gave him a weak smile, "Sakura. Haruno Sakura."

_'Sakura...'_

Of course! Naruto had called her that shortly before they dashed off to find the psychology teacher. How could he have forgotten?

"Well then, Sakura. Let's survive a zombie apocalypse together."

* * *

**_A/N: Dunno about you guys, but isn't the__ last sentence s__o totally romantic considering their crappy predicament? Yeah...just me again huh?_**

**_Well then guys, expect some feels in tomorrow's chapter.  
_**

**_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! IT'S IMPORTANT FOR YOUNG AUTHORS TO ALWAYS HAVE FEEDBACK NO MATTER HOW SHORT IT IS! It encourages us, really, otherwise we feel like we are writing for ghosts...  
_**

**_Cookies and cherry blossom tea for everyone!  
_**


	3. Keepsake

_**A/N: Weeeeeeeee third chapter! Here we go!**_

**_Thanks again for all the alerts, favs, reviews etc. Please keep it up, DON'T become a silent reader! Silent reader's cannot be heard!_**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Keepsake**

There was no better word to describe her than the simple and accurate term '_annoying_'.

With everything she did or said, she was _annoying_.

Sasuke was a hundred percent certain by now.

They had silently stalked their way back out of the heart of the city, halting at a supermarket to get what was most necessary in order to survive.

That was all Sasuke could think about right now. Survival.

And getting to _that_ place, because he might find the much needed, dreaded answers he sought.

"Oh my God! They no longer sell _Puff-O-Bears_ cereal anymore!" the voice of his female companion resounded within the dark, empty aisles of the supermarket.

He cringed at her high-pitched tone, "_Sakura_, forget the cereal, grab whatever else you can."

Quick hands moved up and down shelves, snatching chocolate bars, two bananas, a few small water bottles and a package of crisps. He doubted some _instant ramen noodles_ would serve much purpose without the hot water.

Rapid steps were taken from aisle to aisle, eyes scanning the products in the darkened building.

"Oh look, _raspberry yoghurt_!"

He sighed for the nth time that day, "Sakura, taking _yoghurt _with you is not such a good idea considering the cooling has been switched _off_ for who knows how long, and we do not have any-" his words faltered, obsidian orbs being hooked on a crowd of delicately displayed red spheres.

Tomatoes.

_Cherry_ tomatoes, to be precise.

Sasuke grasped the nearest plastic bag and started bagging some.

"Cherry tomatoes...?" He hadn't noticed Sakura now standing right beside him, frowning down at the vegetables, or fruit...whatever.

"Yeah." he murmured, not wanting to admit the slight jolt her sudden presence had caused.

"I don't like those."

"Good, more for me. What've you got?" He nudged his face towards her, glancing at her hands to see what she was holding.

"_Spring's Berry Bubblegum_!" Holding it up, the pinkette grinned so madly Sasuke thought her cheeks would burst any minute.

"Bubblegum...?" he grumbled, his right eye beginning to twitch.

"Yeah! Oh, and" she rummaged in her pockets, fiddling around until she protruded a lighter and a small box of matches, "here!"

Well at least _that_ was a logical choice of goods-to-buy.

Even though they weren't buying it, rather..._taking what they needed_ _during an extremely demanding emergency._

"Anything edible you found?" He shook his head questioningly as he stared her down.

She was tiny in comparison to him.

Seriously, like, _over_ a head smaller if he were honest.

Sakura rattled the small rectangle of bubblegum in front of his face.

"_Sakura..."_ he hissed, "We're _running away from monstrous zombies_ not _going shopping with granny_."

The rosette rolled her malachite orbs, shrugging and spinning on her heel, "Fine then, I'll go get some bento's and sandwiches."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

She glanced over her shoulder curiously, "Why?"

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to control his temper, "Because the cooling has been turned _off_, I told you _before_."

"Only since an hour."

His eyes flew open, a frown marring his forehead as he looked in confusion towards her, "How'd you know that?"

Yet his only form of a reply was a smug smile, revealing pearly white teeth and the short sentence _"I'm a clever girl!"_

The raven-haired boy shrugged, sighing again as he packed his bag with all the goods he had gathered.

They left the shop shortly before the sun had set completely, only faded orange hues still tinged the now nightly sky, sparkling dots of stars sprinkled all across the heavens.

He stopped her before they continued, hearing the much-loathed sound of gargling zombies that approached, obviously having smelled their presence.

Or whatever they did to track those two down.

"You got that dagger?"

She visually gulped when he mentioned the item, nervousness all scrawled across her face.

He did not know what it was that disturbed her so much. Maybe having to kill something? Well, these zombies were pretty immortal...

Maybe simply an anti-violence thing.

Sasuke protruded a large, glinting _Katana_ which he had left near the entrance of the supermarket, not having found anything to strap it to his body with yet.

The first phosphorous beings turned the corner, so bright that within a radius of two metres surrounding them, everything was clearly visible.

_That_ was quite a positive aspect about the obscene gas they emitted.

At least they wouldn't be able to sneak up in the dark.

Without grand hesitation, Sasuke took a step forwards, swinging his _Katana_ leisurely at the closest zombie, slicing him in half.

The next came racing towards him, taking a hefty jolt, yet Sasuke was prepared, slashing to the side, stabbing out front and cutting down three further beasts in one go, which tried to get to him from behind.

As he curtly peeked over towards Sakura, he had to notice to his dismay that she stood there, immobilized, simply staring horrifically at what he was doing.

_'Probably a Buddhist...'_ Sasuke mused with a snort, finding that factor annoying as much as any other about her.

Fortunately, there weren't many crippled mutants on the road that night, so the Uchiha was able to re-sheath his weapon from the antiquity shop, investigating the area before returning to Sakura.

"Thanks for the backup."

Her face was starkly bleached.

"I know you might not like the fact that you could be _hurting_ people, but it's either them or us." He did not mean for the words to leave his lips so bitterly, having a somewhat scolding undertone, but he could not help it.

Right now, they were decayed human body parts all garbled up in a pile, but Sasuke had seen how they would _regenerate_, stand up and pretend like nothing happened.

He did not know for sure how much time they had left before _that_ occurred. He did not want to find out, either.

"S-Sorry..." she finally whispered, obviously somewhat traumatized, "I-It's just..."

"Yeah, whatever. Let's get going." He trudged past her, making his way along the road.

Yet she didn't seem satisfied by that reaction, "No! Wait!"

As he halted, glimpsing towards her sluggishly, he could tell the utter fear in her eyes.

But it did not seem as if they were directed towards the zombies, but rather towards something else.

"I-I...have a phobia." She muttered, eyes averted to the ground, desperately trying to avoid his judging ones, "Of sharp things. Mainly needles, but stuff like knives and that give me the chills too, to be honest..."

_'Great'_ he thought, a little miffed, '_Of all people to be left with sanity, I get a hyper bubble gum girl with sharp-items phobia'_.

"Alright. Why didn't you say anything when we got those weapons?"

Sakura shrugged, still not raising her orbs, "I don't know, I didn't want you to think I'm a weakling."

"Which you are."

She winced.

So yeah, he was being harsh again. But the truth hurt.

And the truth was that they were the only two normal people left in a city filled with lambent mutants that were out to kill them. No other authority around to help them. And she was a weakling.

_Screw this._

"We'll need to get you a different weapon then. A club or a baseball bat."

"I-I'm not really good at fighting. I mean, not like you, you were being quite..." she trailed off, her hand gesturing towards the lump of deformed limbs on the ground, still glowing lightly.

He nodded, "Kendo training. I'll teach you, let's get you something appropriate first."

* * *

It wasn't hard finding a sports equipment shop, as they both soon discovered.

Inside, Sakura located what seemed to be a highly prized, overly expensive golf club bag.

She glanced inside, marvelling at the fact that there were people out there _paying_ such horrendous amounts of money for a bag of deathly iron rods...

It irked her even more that her _father_ was most likely one of them.

"Okay, let's see." Sasuke grabbed a club, pulling it out and eyeing it critically, before he handed it to her, "See how it is."

She frowned at him in confusion, carefully taking the club, "You mean...play golf?"

Alright. The question was pretty pathetic, the pinkette admitted that mentally the moment those words had left her lips.

"Is it too heavy? Does it swing good in your hold?"

She took several steps back, testing the _weapon_ within her grasp, realising that, after a few swirls through the air, it got quite heavy to carry.

"Maybe a lighter one?" she suggested meekly, a little bit scared that he might again scold her with his dark, cold tone.

Ino was right, this guy was quite emotionless.

_'Ino...'_ Sakura felt a tweak in her heart, something clenching unbearable.

Had her best, blonde friend equally turned into a fluorescent zombie? Would she maybe have to kill her, too?

The image alone sent bile up her throat.

"This one." Sasuke interrupted, handing her a slightly smaller rod.

Sakura took it, testing it's weight and feel, and finding that it was quite satisfying, suiting her needs, "This'll do." She announced happily.

"Great, now that that's solved-" yet before he could complete his phrase, a loud crashing sound and a shower of splintering glass shards intervened, revealing two crippled monsters dashing towards them.

"Quick!" Sasuke yelled, sword already at hand as he stabbed the first one and knocked the second back with the side of his blade.

Sakura observed as the latter zombie gradually got back to his senses, shaking his much misshapen head before directing his empty eyes towards her, purple puffs of gas exiting them.

Before he could assault her, she swung her golf club with all her might, squeezing her eyes tightly shut and listening to the _crunch_ sound his bones made as the item shattered into his body.

The upper half of his skull had cracked off, being flung a good ten metres outside onto the street.

Sakura felt herself gag violently.

"Come on!" Sasuke called at the entrance, gesturing with his head for her to hurry up as he exited the shop.

Sakura sprinted after him, quickly taking note that further zombies were already approaching.

_'These are fast! Nothing like in the movies!'_

Sasuke had quite some speed speaking for him; he was about five metres ahead of her, and no matter how much the pinkette strained her legs to move faster, he kept the distance.

Gnarling, gnashing sounds resonated behind her, the glow of rainbow colours approaching.

Sasuke took a turn into a side alley. Sakura followed.

Suddenly, she heard a familiar clinking noise on the ground near her foot, and a silent _whiz _as something thin and minuscule shot past her body.

Out of reflex, she halted, peeking to the ground. Laying there were similarly glowing, thin needles, rolling across the street.

"KYAAAA!" Her jade orbs widened in dismay, her whole skin tingling with fear as she legged it towards Sasuke, catching up in a matter of two seconds and leaving behind a billow of swirling dust.

"What the-?!" Once more, Sasuke found himself interrupted as further thin needles came shooting past them, "Are these weirdos shooting _needles_ at us!?"

"_YES!_" Sakura screamed from up ahead, tripping without warning over an astray brick and tumbling to the floor.

Sasuke knelt down towards her, wrapping his hands around her arm and hauling her up, "We need to find a hiding spot." He announced, glancing over his shoulder at the ever fast advancing beings.

She winced, having scathed her leg a little, "There's a small pharmacy about 300 metres from here. Inside is a laboratory, it's underneath. It's locked, but I know where the keys are."

As astonished as he was, Sasuke had no time to ask her how come she had connections to a pharmacy laboratory.

"You lead the way." he declared, following her as she began to jog, semi-limping at the attempt.

* * *

The good side about the laboratory was that it was warm. Outside, a terrible chill had begun to settle, seeing as it was night and all.

In here, the temperature was regulated, and it was, surprisingly, quite warm.

Sakura juggled a few bottles in her hands, shuffling through cupboards and grabbing the one or other ointment and liquid she found.

Sasuke was not sure for what they were, but she came back with a few products, some bandages, plasters, iodine and, with a very careful move, holding the sharp end as far from her body as possible, a pair of clinical scissors.

"Put these into your bag." She declared, seemingly searching for something else within the spacious room.

He did as she asked, going towards the back afterwards and taking a seat on the floor.

The bad side was the smell, really. It was awfully pungent, teasing his nostrils with a mix of weird fragrances that were anything but pleasant.

Soon Sakura descended in front of him, handing him a weak smile.

A deafening silence followed afterwards, all both teenagers could take note of was the blood rushing vibrantly through their bodies.

"So" Sakura began, and Sasuke noticed she had cleaned the scratches on her leg and dabbed some dark fluid onto it, "what now?"

"We stay here for the night." He stated matter-of-factly, "We try to rest, then leave."

"Anywhere we are headed?" She questioned with a strong tone of hopefulness, obviously searching for his brains to come up with a clever plan.

He hesitated at first, considering the idea over and over in his head.

It would take quite a while to get _there_...

"South." He finally spoke up, a grim determined expression marring his visage, "Out of the city, towards Ame."

"_Ame_?" She needn't elaborate that query.

"Yes. There is a place...that might serve us with answers."

"You mean about the reason this..._apocalypse_ broke out?"

He nodded once, leaving her to look at nothing in particular, obviously pondering.

An unexpected gurgling noise broke through the newly found quietude.

It wasn't a zombie's, however; moreover that of a stomach churning in displeasure, wanting to be fed.

"Sorry..." Sakura murmured, a tinge of scarlet dusting her cheeks.

Sasuke could not help a smirk forming on his lips. He zipped his bag open, protruding two chocolate bars, "Here." He handed them both to her.

She looked at them hesitantly, "Aren't you gonna eat one?" She questioned before licking her lips.

He shook his head, "I don't do sweets."

Sakura took them contentedly, "_What_?" Her fingers unwrapped the first bar, biting off a large piece.

The Uchiha shrugged, staring to the side, "Just not my thing."

The sound of light-hearted laughter made him redirect his view, "What's so funny?" He arched an eyebrow.

"Nothing. Just, I...don't know anything about you. Except your name, that you like tomatoes and despise sweets and are hell good at sword-fighting."

He was stunned for several seconds, watching her munch down on the bar merrily not before devouring the next one.

"Well, we've not really had a chance to get to know each other."

"True. So, what else is there about you?" Sakura presented him with a chocolate smeared smile, making something inside the raven-haired boy twist funnily.

"How about _you_ tell me something about _you_ first?"

She sighed mockingly, shaking her head, "Well, I have a Trypanophobia...or Belonephobia, not sure on that. I...am more of a nerdy kid, _love _sweets, hate zombies, oh, and I want to be a doctor when I'm older." Sakura began to play with the wrapping in her hands, tearing it into tiny pieces.

"A doctor?" Sasuke raised a quizzical eyebrow at that, "When you are frightened of needles and the likes?"

She nodded meekly, "I know, it's stupid. I'm working on it though..." her voice trailed off, becoming a silent murmur as she glanced at her lap.

"What do you wanna be when you're older?" She suddenly inquired, catching him by surprise.

"I...don't know yet."

The pinkette tilted her head to the side, "Really? Nothing you are...passionate about?"

"Not really."

"Well, not like that's very important now with the end of the world going on and all..." Her emerald eyes focused on his void-like ones, searching for something akin to understanding, he assumed.

He studied the multitude of hues within them; the slightly darker and lighter green shades, with a delicate mix of amber and tiny hints of brown and blue.

He suddenly felt nervous, having her stare so openly at him, not shy at all of his presence like other people usually were.

He was an _Uchiha,_ after all.

Out of habit, he dived his fingers inside his pocket and protruded a small item he tended to play with when he felt restless.

"What's that then?" She asked curiously, peeking inside his fingers.

He held it out flatly, revealing a dark, irregular black stone.

"An obsidian! How suiting!"

He frowned at her, not sure what she meant.

"Where did you get that from?" That vibrant smile was back on her lips.

"My...brother. It's a...keepsake."

"Oh..." her voice faltered, receiving a sad tone, yet her orbs never left his, keeping the steady contact as they reflected sympathy..

"Can I see it?" Sakura tenderly asked, her thin fingers reaching out towards his.

He was reluctant, really; he had never honestly shown the item to anyone, nor told them where he had gotten it from.

Yet something about the rosette in front of him, and the situation they both were in, made him want to trust her.

For the first time since...since...

He gave her the gem.

Carefully, she took it, inspecting it in her hands and turning it over, "He most likely gave it to you as a symbol of protection."

Dark eyes gazed at her through the dimness of the room.

She did not notice, however, "I mean, obsidians symbolize spirit guardians that protect us from death and that banish all possessive demons. It's also associated with the truth." She glanced up, pleased with herself upon her knowledge, just to find Sasuke slightly wide-eyed on the other side.

"Really...?"

"Yeah! I guess...your brother gave it to you as a form of lucky charm." Her voice was quite soft, quite shallow, gaining and endearing attribute as she continued to speak, "He must have loved you a lot."

It was outstandingly _awkward_, talking to another person, a _girl_ much less, about the symbolism behind the gemstone his brother had left him shortly before the abnormal massacre eight years ago.

But it also felt _good_. Sasuke would never be able to explain, but one way or another, he had to admit, he was glad Sakura had said those words.

"I...read a lot about gemstones. I like books."

"Something else I learnt about you today then." He spoke indifferently, trying to mask is slight awe.

She returned the small item to him, throwing him another smile, "Alright, I think there are some blankets in a cupboard at the back. I'll go get those and we try to sleep."

He nodded, watching as she got up to retrieve said items.

He would wander all night long, even in his dreams, if '_that'_ was what his brother had meant when he gifted him the stone.

* * *

_**A/N: This chapter ended up longer than I thought it would...great!**_

_**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!**_

_**Domo Arigatou~ **_


	4. Night In

_**A/N: Sorryyyy~ I'm so terribly tired due to two very busy days and a night of no sleep, hence this is one day late as the next prompt. Next promt, "Night Out" will come ASAP as well as the prompt for tomorrow! Bear with me, my few, wonderful readers!**_

* * *

**Chapter 4: Night In**

He could not believe it.

Those damn neon-bastards had purposefully chased them to a hospital at the edge of Konoha City, just before its boundary, in the middle of a dead end.

There was no bloody way out of this four story hotel-of-misery without running right into a crowd of gleaming rainbow suckers.

_'Fuck this...'_

Sasuke could feel his temples pulsate, thirst and hunger gnawing mercilessly at his innards as he carefully trudged through the dimly lit building.

Their feet made audible _clack_ noises as they proceeded, only few emergency lights giving them the hint of what awaited up in front.

Sasuke took in the scent of strong anti-bacterial sprays and clinical textiles, making him nearly gag in revulsion.

He despised hospitals. These pristine white rooms decorated in startling bleached colours, designed in the most uncomfortable and terrific way possible.

Everything inside screamed and roared the word _death_.

You went here to either prevent death, watch it or face it.

But no matter what condition bought you into the sterile four walls of a hospital, it would and always did remind one of sickness and pain.

Things Sasuke had sufficiently within his life; no need for the add-on.

Sakura suddenly squealed next to him, giving him a close heart-attack.

"_Sakura!_" He hissed, glaring at her, even though she most likely couldn't recognize his facial features.

"I'm sorry! Something moved next to me!"

"Yeah, your shadow."

"Hardly."

He rolled his eyes; another gesture left unnoticed by the pinkette as they moved through what seemed to be the main corridors, with patient rooms to either side.

"What do we do now?" The girl queried, eyeing the building with a sense of familiarity.

"Good question. Wait until those guys outside lose interest."

"Right..." he could decipher the doubtfulness in her voice, but did not bother indulge into it.

What else was there to do, really?

The sun had set. They were trapped.

No exit existed within this monotonous establishment that did _not_ lead right into the arms of the zombies, whose growls and moans were to be heard miles away.

Today it meant: night in.

"Wait..." He could not be sure, but Sasuke imagined Sakura was frowning at the ceiling right now.

"What, discovered a spider?" He tended to tease her a lot lately.

Since their journey together started about a good five days ago, and he learnt some of her habits, verbally and physically, he could not help but point them out, mocking them in any form or way possible.

For example the way she began to tug and swirl her hair in her fingers.

_'Are the lice biting?'_

_'Very funny Sasuke.'_

Or when she started biting her lower lip frantically, trying to come up with some devious plan.

_'Does the lip taste good? It's half gone already.'_

'Riiight...'

Even the way she jumped at the slightest sound echoing off the walls, hiding her face behind her thin, smooth hands.

'_You're not **that** ugly, Sakura, no need to hide.'_

'Sasuke!'

What mostly shocked him about the whole playfulness in their conversations was not the fact that she did not throw a tantrum or began to cry, feeling offended or insulted or what not.

It was the fact that he _enjoyed_ it.

Usually, in his younger days, whenever Sasuke found a 'victim' to bully, said person would take it highly offensive simply because Sasuke worded his remarks quite darkly, with a hint of hostility and a total lack of enthusiasm.

You knew he never _played_ with you; that it never was a _sweet banter. _

Sasuke was dead serious and pursued a hundred percent the intention of maligning whoever he chose to bother.

With Sakura, however, the habit took on a total new component.

He teased her the way friends did amongst each other; siblings talking humorously, hell, even the way couples tended to communicate, showing their personal way of endearment.

Striking the last comparison from the list, Sasuke smirked at the thought.

Sakura never took it the wrong way, and Sasuke was glad for that.

He simply enjoyed her reactions.

"No _idiot_" Sakura gaped at him, desiring for the man to just shut up and take her serious, "I've _been_ here before!"

"Have you...?" His voice lacked every aspect of delightedness.

She nodded, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she trudged peacefully across the marbled floor, "There is a secret passage leading to an outside emergency station in the direction of Ame. It was built a long time ago, because strong thunderstorms tend to occur on those roads, so an underground passage seemed like a logical plan."

Sasuke's eyes visually lit up, "Where is it?"

Until the rosette grimaced, frowning, "I'm not sure..."

He sighed, his shoulders tense and his throat aching, "Great..."

"Maybe I'll remember in a bit. Let's get something to drink and eat first."

"Right, and where would we find-"

Before he could quite comprehend what was going on, Sakura had grasped his hand, pulling him along behind her as she determinedly wandered towards what seemed to be stairs.

The raven-haired boy was not sure what he should make out of the rather impulsive gesture.

Sakura withheld no shyness, and he could not find the strength to complain or tear his hand out of her soft grasp.

Something inside him tingled and warmed up to the feeling.

"Here" Sakura hopped down the stairs, Sasuke having somewhat trouble keeping up to her eager pace as they tracked along towards a spacious cafeteria, "there's food here."

She grinned happily, her overly large emeralds glittering with amusement and triumph, "We just have to find something edible that isn't off."

"How hard can that be." Came his sarcastic remark.

* * *

The bread was as stale as bread could get, but it calmed his stomach greatly, the water he gulped down quenching his thirst for the time being.

He watched with slight bewilderment as Sakura, who walked leisurely next to him, wolfed down two apples and a packet of plain biscuits. She was pretty much stuffing her face with the latter mentioned produce, so that Sasuke had trouble grabbing a treat for himself before they had all vanished.

"If only I could remember..." Sakura whined, cleaning her face off the crumbs that caked her chin.

"Maybe we'll find some map around, in one of the staff rooms for example." The raven-haired teenager began to randomly open various doors, always pushing with hesitance, fearing a sudden assault any minute.

He had his sword finally strapped to his back with the usage of a dog leash. It was definitely not the most stylish way to present oneself, but it did the job it was supposed to do.

Sakura imitated him, twisting her head to the side and inspecting every office and consultation room they could find. Yet no map appeared.

Nothing, not in the scattered, partly shredded documents, or on the walls, framed, stuck to a pin-board or anything.

Tones and tones of files of various patients with all kinds of ailments. That was it.

The Uchiha began to thumb through one file, eyeing the printed and marked words when Sakura's hand swatted his angrily, making him glance up at her with a scowl.

"What?" He grumbled.

"It's private!" She had an expression of sheer disbelief marring her face, her eyes expectantly calling for him to replace the documents.

"Yeah, you're right, that hippy-zombie might sue me for peeking inside his case."

"That's not what I mean, it's just..." she trailed off, incapable of finding the right words, which began to frustrate her visually.

Her face turned red.

"Alright." Sasuke muttered, flinging the folder back onto the table and exiting the room, "Come on, we need to somehow find this damn passage or we can ask those monsters what they want for starters, 'cause we'll be main course."

The pinkette sighed in aggravation, stomping off next to him and spinning in her march, "If only I could remem-"

As seemed to be the habit of these overly deranged brutes, they tended to bolt in at the exact moment of a conversation, before the termination of a sentence was ever achieved.

"KYAAAA!" Sakura screamed so loud Sasuke was convinced her lungs had just exploded, tainting her insides.

The fluorescent beast hauled itself at him, his Swiss-cheese face gaping like a fish.

"Forget it!" Sasuke grunted, swinging his speedily unsheathed sword flat against his face so that the zombie stumbled backwards, falling onto its rear.

Sakura snatched up her golf club, which she had somehow managed to attach to her side, holding it protectively in front of herself.

Further sounds of crashing and crumbling alerted the duo that this zombie was not on a solo mission.

They had company.

"Crap, they managed to get in!"

"Wasn't hard, we never barricaded _all_ entrances." Sakura pointed out, spinning on her heel to chase after Sasuke, who had taken to jog down the nearest corridor.

Left and right, rainbow mutants surged out of doors, trying their best to claw at their prey, but, thankfully for those two, failing in the attempt as they swooshed past, trying to find some form of exit.

"We need to get outta here!" Sasuke huffed, Sakura at his side, obviously distressed.

"Where!?" She called, jabbing her rod at a zombie that tackled her from the front – she pushed so hard that she tore a hole through his skin, revealing what looked like mouldy innards.

"Yuck!"

"No time!" Sasuke intertwined his fingers with hers, tearing her viciously to the right, then left again and dragging forcefully towards a pair of double doors.

"Sasuke! Sas-" He always cut her off with tugs and battle cries as he stabbed and sliced various zombies on the go.

Kicking open the doors which banged against the walls on either side, Sasuke entered, stumbling to a halt with Sakura nearly tripping next to him.

"Sasuke!" She spoke his name like a curse.

"_What_!?"

"This is an operation room!"

He frowned in irritation, not understanding her point, until his eyes scanned their current location.

This was a dead end.

"Crap."

_"Exactly_."

Hungry howls resounded from behind them, closing in rapidly.

"What now?"

Obsidian eyes took in the view of an operation table, various electronic devices, tools so sharp he was surprised Sakura did not undergo a panic attack already and so many bottles filled with chemicals, he wondered how doctors could remember them all.

"We have no time!" Sakura yelled alarmingly, her eyes focused nervously onto the weakly swinging double doors at their backs.

Then Sasuke noticed the air shafts a good two metres above them on the opposite wall; underneath, various cupboards and small tables stood idly by.

"I know what." He jumped towards them, skipping on top of the furniture and jerking at the coverings with all his might.

Fortunately, it came off without much complaint, skittering to the floor as he dropped it carelessly.

The shafts were an estimated ninety by ninety centimetres.

It might just work out.

"Sakura, get in here."

"_What?"_ he need not turn around to view her incredulous look.

Yet they had no time for discussions.

He hopped down, walking behind her, forcefully pushing her towards the cupboards not before lifting her rather un-gentlemen-like by the rear.

"_Sasuke!_"

"GO!" He hollowed as he gave her a measured push and she scrambled into the shaft before being able to protest properly.

The doors were shoved open, luminescent gas filling the operation room as Sasuke jolting from the ground and crawled inside the shaft behind Sakura.

He assumed Sakura would strangle him whilst cursing him remorselessly if she ever realised that, due to her wearing a frilly skirt, he could see her _Bambi_ imprinted underwear perfectly.

Whatever it was that suddenly worked inside the usually tame mind of the teenage boy, his face began to heat up ever so slightly.

Ignoring the puzzling sensation within his gut, he pushed on, "Crawl as fast as you can!"

"I am!" She took several arbitrary turns, Sasuke not bothering to question her decisions as they finally exited, Sakura falling face first down the shaft and into a medium sized room.

Sasuke flung himself out after her.

They landed rather harshly, both wincing at the new-found pain within their bodies.

"Ouch..." The rosette muttered, righting herself.

"Any idea where we might be?" Sasuke asked the obvious, checking out his surroundings.

"Hmmm..." Sakura frowned at the three steps that led up to a bulky metal door, a few shelves and cupboards decorating the right hand side of the room whilst a hospital bed and a removable ramp stood in the middle.

The walls were a faded grey, with curling paint peeling off or littering the ground in differing intervals.

There was a dark passage in front of them, barely lightened up by the bulb that glowed up above, leading down at a steady steepness.

"I think..." an unexpected cheerfulness invaded her voice, "I found it!" She sprung happily into the air, grinning widely as she danced around herself, "I'm a _genius_! I found it!"

"What?" It took some time for the cogwheels in Sasuke's brain to finally begin spinning again.

"The secret passage! It's here!" Sakura pointed eagerly into the darkness, Sasuke following the direction.

"Great." He muttered, somehow surprised his companion actually _accidentally_ lead them to their only chance of survival.

"Yeah, autographs later. Let's get out of here first."

* * *

_**A/N: Give me REVIEWS and I give you NEON-GLOWING RAINBOW DELUXE SUPERTASTY SHIO RAMEN! **_


	5. Night Out

_**A/N: Pffff where do the hours go? I wake up and do stuff 'cause I'm a busy person and then it's already like, 4 O'clock in the evening ._. **_

_**Enjoy~**_

* * *

**Chapter 5: Night Out**

The way Sasuke bounded towards the huge, shivering fence, jolting upwards with such ease as he grappled the wiring, clambering upwards astounded Sakura, leaving her flabbergasted at the side of the road, staring up at him.

"C'mon Sakura, we have no time to waste." he spoke in his usual, nonchalant tone of voice as if having to beg a child to finally _stop_ playing with the simple pebble on the beach and just _get going._

The rosette could not help but feel increasing annoyance upon his constant negative reactions towards everything she did or said.

As if her whole life was a criticism to his existence, so he reminded her of it.

She knew that sometimes Sasuke's remark were meant playfully, plainly to tease her in a rather innocent way, but at other moments, she did not quite know what she was at.

It was tiresome.

But as the saying went: never look a gift horse in the mouth, and Sakura was not about to complain about the only available companion she received during the most horrendous time of her life; namely an apocalypse.

Each and everytime she repeated the word within her mind, she could not prevent a dizzying cloud to smog her brain, cluttering her sight with white puffs for a brief moment.

It just sounded so _unrealistic_.

Something you only watch _movies_ about...

_'We gotta survive this..._' Sakura thought determinedly, not asking the hottest question of the day, _'but what's gonna happen afterwards...?'_

Target number one: Ame.

Sasuke had a plan.

Sakura would follow.

It was better than nothing, which was the only alternative they currently had.

"Sakura." the boy called impatiently, staring her down with his half-lidded, void-like eyes.

Sighing, the pinkette took some steps backwards, preparing to race at fully force towards the bending fence, of which on the other side Sasuke stood leisurely.

She directed all of her mental will-power towards her feet, pumping them up, ready for the sprint when something unexpected happened.

A bony, winding hand popped up from behind her, grasping her right wrist and tugging forcefully.

Sakura yelped, falling back, her whole body shivering; a horrible tingling sensation crawled like millions of spiders across her body at the sudden circumstance.

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled, and she saw him pounce the fence, eager to get back onto the other side and to her aid.

Not wanting to stand there as the typical weakling, no matter how true it was, Sakura spun around, putting on a grimace as she snatched her golf club, swinging frantically in the assumed direction of her zombie assaulter.

Without realising what had happened, Sakura opened her eyes (having shut them beforehand out of reflexive fear) to the sight of a crushed, dislocated mound of a zombie body.

Sasuke landed next to her with an audible _thud_, glancing rather awestruck at the sight in front of him.

"You massacred that guy with a _club_." Sasuke stated the obvious more to convince himself than the girl beside him.

"Yeah..." Sakura muttered, breathing heavily, adrenalin coursing through her system at top speed.

After several seconds of simple silence and still-standing, Sasuke finally semi-turned towards the fence, "Come on. You first this time."

He nudged her in direction of the iron mesh, Sakura gulping doubtfully.

"You just pulverized a zombie. Fences are cupcakes in comparison."

The pink-haired girl did not know what moved Sasuke to speak that comparison, nor why it made her burst out in laughter, leaving the boy to glower in annoyance, but it was all she needed to get going.

With a few powerful kicks and pulls, She bounced from the top of the fence onto the other side, her feet prickling as they met earthy grass.

Sasuke was rapid to join her.

"Which way?" The rosette asked, still panting.

He pointed his face behind her, towards a pot-hole littered road.

"It's getting dark." Sakura complained as they marched, taking large steps, towards their yellow brick road.

"I know. But we need to hurry. The pathway ain't long, but it might take all night still."

"And then?"

"We'll be at the edge of Ame City. We'll find provisions there as well."

Sakura's eyebrows creased evidently, her features still perfectly viewable in the warm, evening light.

She was obviously pondering.

"You torturing your lip again?" Sasuke mocked, peeking from the corner of his eyes at the girl as her teeth punched violently into the soft flesh of her lower lip.

"I'm just thinking; we had a night in yesterday, now we're out."

"That's life for you, a roller-coaster ride."

Sakura mused privately if she should marvel at the way Sasuke worded everything so unenthusiastically, or reprove it.

There was hardly ever any feeling in his verbal statements, only sometimes the hint of vexation and frustration when a zombie dude was being a freaking pain up the ass.

In some way, it was an achievement; being the most indifferent person the world had to offer.

But then again, right now, he was the _only_ claimant of that title, what with all the rainbow hippies running around and all.

"What're you thinking?"

He did not cease to astound her any less than their undead _friends_, suddenly interlacing a somewhat _emotional_ tone to his usually apathetic voice.

There was a distant gaze lingering in his orbs; something nostalgic, and Sakura wanted nothing more than to question it, for him to open up and for her to understand, but she knew that would never happen.

Not even under _these_ circumstances.

"You." She confessed flatly, not being shy at all.

What did she have to lose?

He arched an eyebrow questioningly at her, both of them reaching the edge of what seemed to be a forest. The road kept trailing into the overtaking darkness.

Sakura shrugged, "Just the way you act like you don't care." A weak smile adorned her features.

"Don't care about what?" Here he went, all back to his dispassionate attitude.

"Everything." The tiniest hint of chagrin invaded her tone.

Several seconds whisked by, only the cicadas and nightly crickets bringing life into the darkening world.

"Let me guess; you think I'm a lonely jerk who deserves every ignominy he receives?" Sasuke did not bother look her into the eye.

"No." Came the soft, surprising reply, "I just ask myself why you're like that, and why there's no one out there who has tried to change that yet."

"Oh there have been enough of _those_." She could sense the bitterness growing, _"Friends_ who wanted to aid me, said I should open up. None of them understood."

"What about Naruto?"

The Uchiha shrugged lightly, "He never tried to understand. He never judged, either, though. I knew him since before..." Sasuke trailed off, glaring accusingly at the muddied ground, "He was there. Wordlessly, and he always supported me. I'm thankful for that..."

"But...you never could quite _open up_?" She was speaking so softly, no discrimination contaminating her voice that Sasuke was half certain he only imagined her complete non-judgemental character.

"No..." he shook his head, somewhat miserable, "Not quite. He tried to talk about it later on, as we grew older. I guess I just always pushed him away."

Sakura nodded, staring on ahead onto their pathway. She could not see beyond the shadowy trees which hung darkly over the uneven, weathered pathway.

"Maybe you just need the right person to help you take the first steps." Placing her hands behind her back, the rosette began to skip lightly.

Sasuke frowned once more, "First step...?"

"Back into life." Her wide, sincere smile assaulted him as she twisted to stand directly in front of him, outstretching her frail, little hand.

At least to him it was frail and little.

"I'll help you."

"Right..." and back he went to nonchalant Sasuke.

"Yeah, I'm going to do something Naruto and all the others never did."

"And that would be?" He spoke challengingly, squaring his shoulders as to remind her of their bodily differences.

He was a Hulk in comparison to her.

"I'm not going to leave you with a choice." She grinned with an evil spark, clasping his hand into hers and intertwining their fingers in a soothing manner, pulling him along next to her.

"What the-"

"You'll just _have_ to open up to me. After all, I'm the only option left!"

* * *

_**A/N: Let's hope that Time and Space are friendly to me, and I get the next two chapters done BEFORE the clock shows me 2 a.m. **_

_**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW MY LOVELY BUNCHES! FOR RAINBOW COLOURED SHIO RAMEN, DON'T FORGET!**_


	6. The Student Becomes The Teacher

_**A/N: would've uploaded this yesterday if fanfiction HAD LET ME! Grrr...**_

_**THANKS FOR ALL THE FAVS/REVIEWS/ALERTS! KEEP IT UP PRETTY PLEASE!**_

_**ENJOY!**_

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Student Becomes The Teacher**

_Crack!_

The immobile corpse crumbled to the ground, poisonous greens and eye-stabbing purples curling around the remnants.

"ACK!" Sakura skipped upwards, staring in terror as the zombies approached, not owning the same kind of abstinence the girl was currently displaying.

"Sakura, fight!" Sasuke shouted over the dense crowd, slashing, slicing and stabbing mercilessly as he tried to push his way towards the pinkette.

He faintly took notice of a spiralling iron rod flying through the sky, the familiarised sounds of cracking bones and splintering limbs echoing all around, but nonetheless, she did not seem capable of freeing herself.

Finally reaching her side, Sasuke grabbed her wrist, tearing her out of the hungry crowds which clawed and gnashed at them, "Hurry!" He called, sprinting with the pinkette in tow.

Twisting into several unknown alleys, concentrating intently on the fading zombie moans in the background, Sasuke halted, heavily panting, at what seemed to be a dead end.

Bleached beige bricks made up a six metre tall wall next to them.

"_God_ will they ever stop amassing like that..." The rosette puffed, crouching lowly.

"If you learnt to _fight_ properly, we wouldn't have such a grand problem."

It took her a while before she finally gazed up at the Uchiha, mustering her best glare, "Well _sorry_, I'm not a _kendo_ master like _you_ are."

Sasuke gave her a dark glare, "Then I'll teach you."

She had obviously not expected that response, thus was left speechless as they collected themselves.

"Let's get out of this dead end, before the hippies find us." She found it immensely amusing how he called the zombies _hippies_, all the way speaking with the voice of an assassin.

* * *

"Alright, even thought it's not sword, we can use it like one nonetheless." Sasuke began, standing in front of her.

He had placed his own weapon and backpack on an old wooden table he had discovered in the rather deserted parking house they were currently in.

Thankfully, Sakura had no reason to feel threatened by the possibility of zombies assaulting them unexpectedly.

After all, they _glowed_.

And a few emergency lights gleamed up above them, together with the dimly infiltrating sunlight outside.

She raised her club in both hands, already earning an eye-roll and "tch" from the Uchiha.

"Let's start with _holding_ the weapon correctly first."

Sasuke stepped behind her, taking the rod out of Sakura's grasp before coming to her side.

"Watch my pose." He demonstrated the correct alignment of feet and legs paired with the torso and arms, holding the club in a steady position.

Sakura did her best to mimic him, shuffling with her feet but not finding any stability in the pose.

"No Sakura, not quite so tense, and the feet closer together." he nudged hers with his, pushing her back slightly in and extending her arms a little, yet that just made her posture quite amusing to ogle at.

Which was the reason Sasuke could not bite back a chuckle.

Much to Sakura's dismay, who tried her best to seem dignified, "_Uchiha_, are you _laughing_!?"

"I don't laugh."

"Then stop grinning like a goof!"

Her insult worked, scarlet streaks adorning his face as he glanced to the side, "Shut up. Just get into the right position."

Huffing, Sakura glowered at the man to the right, hands placed intimidatingly onto her hips, "_Excuse me_, dear Sasuke, how about you _show_ me _properly_!"

He smirked at her antic, once more walking behind her.

Sakura gave him an irritated look over her shoulder, but he pushed her face back towards the front, eyeing her back.

"Alright, let me guide you." He muttered with a hint of authority, grabbing her hips and pushing them a little in the right direction, before moving on towards her legs, holding her thighs and then arms.

Whilst he seemed ignorant to the close proximity they shared, Sakura's cheeks flared up heatedly.

He was touching her in rather inappropriate places, just to _guide her_.

Yet she doubted Sasuke would ever be a victim of hormones.

The raven-haired boy wound his fingers around her slim wrist, directing it into a fighting stance.

Suddenly she stood there, steadfast, holding an imaginary rod that would equal a powerful weapon in her hands.

"That's the pose." He snatched the rod from the ground, where he had placed it before, and gave it to her, Sakura angling it appropriately, "And that's how you move."

His hands covered hers from behind, hot breath fanning against her delicate neck as he moved her arms accordingly, making the warmth in Sakura's face dizzying.

"But you have to take into account that enemies come from every direction." Suddenly, he jerked her around, still attached behind her, swinging and plunging the club professionally in her grasp.

His bodily heat transferred onto her, feeling every muscle in his body flex.

"You get it?" He queried, suddenly stepping back and allowing for a light cold to take over.

"Y-Yeah..." Sakura cursed inwardly for the stutter.

He did not seem to have picked up on it.

"Good, then let's practice." Sasuke trudged over to the table, picking up his _katana_, still sheathed.

"W-Wait, me against _you_!?" She knew how _that_ would end.

"Don't worry. I'll leave it inside its sheath, and I'll not go full force against you."

Nodding dubiously, Sakura got into position opposite the Uchiha, gulping as silently as possible as he _attacked_.

He was slow and obvious in his moving, allowing Sakura the time to think before she reacted appropriately.

"The Zombies won't have swords, though." She stated the obvious, frowning at nothing in particular.

"It's to train fighting reflexes. Just because it's _kendo_ doesn't mean you need a _kendo_ enemy in order for this to work." He rolled his eyes at her, smirking.

He seemed to be smirking a lot more often lately, Sakura noticed, as she parried another blow from him, then another, gradually increasing her pace and getting more comfortable with the new fighting style.

After several minutes of workout, Sakura concluded that she liked Sasuke's smirks.

* * *

The sight of shimmying skyscraper tops in the distance, the sun blazing lazily over the hills and a refreshing gush winding its way towards them was all Sakura needed to release a jubilating squeal.

"Yes, it's Ame City!" She cheered, jogging straight towards it.

"Sakura, wait!" Yet she ignored her companion's calling, chasing towards the nearest building.

What she was so excited about, Sasuke did not know.

He doubted _she_ knew, either.

Yet Sasuke feared the girl might run into trouble if he left her to dart off on her own.

The obscene image of a murdered Sakura within his mind made his heart twinge painfully, hate bubbling up within him.

Cursing lowly, Sasuke sprinted off after her, calling out her name every so often but not receiving any response at all.

He glanced around the desolated city, surprised that the sky had only sparse streaks of white clouds scattered across its realm; it usually poured waterfalls over here, and if not, it was always cloudy.

Today however, the weather was pleasant.

"Sakura!" He roared, thankful that he could neither hear or see any hints of zombies around, either.

Maybe they did not like Ame?

"_Sakura!"_ he tried again, frantically spinning on his heel, jogging down every street and looking out for pink hair.

Nothing.

"_How fast is she!?_" he grinded his teeth, trying to comprehend where the pinkette had wondered off to so speedily that he could not find her.

He raced towards a large, central building with hundreds of glass windows, glittering a steely grey in the evening rays.

A clattering noise like that of breaking glass alerted him to his left.

He sprinted towards it, discovering, to his relief and horror, that Sakura stood on top of a working desk, three or four rainbow brutes crawling towards her.

Another one was in a corner, trying to relocate his arm which, so Sasuke assumed, Sakura had smacked off with her club.

"Get away!" She shrieked, backing along the table.

"Sakura careful!" Sasuke shouted, watching as she approached its edge and was about to tumble off, landing in the shards of glass.

She seemed bewildered about his abrupt appearance, stumbling and losing hold, crashing down from the table.

With a forceful jerk, Sasuke plunged beneath her, catching her body in his arms as he slammed towards the ground and felt hundreds of piercing shards stabbing his skin.

He bit back a painful cry.

Sakura jolted upright, pulling him upwards by his hand, "Let's go!" She flung her rod behind her, smashing a zombie in the face before they both darted off, Sasuke wanting to roar in pain as the glass shifted in his skin.

Several hundred metres away, the rosette discovered a pharmacy.

She spun on her heel, kicking mightily against the door which, to her luck, gave way and opened, allowing for both of them to enter.

Sakura pushed herself against the door, shutting it tightly not before stepping behind a cupboard which Sasuke helped her with shoving against the entrance.

The pinkette deviated towards the Uchiha, about to say something when she realised he was leaning against his thighs, his back drenched in maroon blood.

"Oh God!" She screeched in panic, a hand flying up to her lips, "Oh God no!" Rapidly, the malachite-eyed girl tore open a few cupboards, roaming through shelves for a bottle of alcohol, some cotton, tweezers and iodine.

Sasuke grunted in pain, lowering himself to the floor as he simply could not find a position comfortable enough to rest in.

"Just, sit, and I'll" she hustled around, angling her face in every direction as she was panic-struck, not knowing what to do first or last.

"Calm down..." he murmured, squeezing his eyes shut tightly.

Suddenly, she dropped down behind him, pulling and tugging at his shirt. It was terribly shredded and dotted with large blodges of blood, gradually turning a crusting brown.

"I'll take out the shards first, then you'll have to remove the shirt." Barely had she finished her sentence, he already felt the tweezers at work, smoothly pulling out shard by shard, which she placed to the side on a grey cloth she had found just a millisecond before.

It took her several minutes, being as accurate and delicate as possible, wincing everytime he winced, freezing everything he jerked slightly.

No further words were spoken as she completed her task, aiding him in taking off the shirt, gawking in abhorrence at his marred back, caked with too much blood for it to be any healthy.

"Tell me if it hurts" she warned, meticulously picking out the smaller, sneakier splints from his back until she finally had them all.

Grabbing a cloth drenched in the pungent alcohol, she dabbed it against his wounds, cleaning away the crimson liquid.

Sasuke hissed, teeth gritted tightly, trying to act as strong as possible. Yet the pain was getting worse; biting and stabbing his open flesh at the contact of the aggressive substance.

"It'll be okay." she reassured him, equally trying to calm her own fears as she proceeded with the iodine.

When everything was done, Sakura sighed in relief, "I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have run ahead, I know I was stupid, I-"

"Okay, okay." He breathed heavily, "What happened happened."

The rosette bit her lip regretfully, watching as Sasuke sluggishly turned around to face her.

"I live."

"Yeah..." She had the remorse openly displayed in her eyes, which glazed over.

Sasuke feared she would begin to cry, so quickly scrambled his brain for something uplifting to say.

"You were quite quick to react. Thanks, I hardly feel any pain anymore." that was partially a lie – his back flamed like a bitch. But he knew that fact wouldn't help swerve Sakura's mood.

She smiled weakly, averting her orbs towards the floor, playing with the tweezers in her hands.

"Look at that. Sharp objects all around you, even in your _hands_, and you are all calm."

Emeralds flew upwards towards him, wide in disbelief as she glanced around, as if only _now_ noticing the bloodied shards and tools.

"Oh my God!" She bolted upwards, taking a few measured steps backwards, "Eek!"

"_Sakura_." Sasuke did not bother hide the chuckle that invaded his voice, "It's all over, nothing happened, you are safe." Once more he flung one of those charming smirks at her.

Sakura did not know what it was about them that calmed her nerves so much.

"You're right..." she whispered, loosening up and nearing him again, "Y-You should drink lots. To get your fluids up" Sakura fished around in a backpack they had acquired in a shop not far from the city, "here." She handed it to him with a faint smile, crouching down, "And It'll be best if, once the iodine dries, I'll bandage it properly; I'll take some painkillers along too, you can take one every eight hours, it'll help you move. We'll try rest for a bit, so that the wounds can close properly, otherwise you won't be able to fight. I'd say a few hours at least."

She got up, once more cramming through shelves and flinging various items into the air before she found what she needed.

Hesitantly, she picked up a pair of clinical scissors, swallowing her fear.

_'I need to help Sasuke'_ she thought determinedly.

Returning to his side, Sakura began to unfurl the bandage, telling him to hold it at the front as she wrapped his torso mindfully, covering all of his cuts with several layers.

"The student becomes the teacher..." Sasuke murmured, eyes half-hooded as she worked on him.

"What?" She halted momentarily before continuing.

"Well, I don't know much about first aid and that, but you do." He took a swig from the water bottle, downing the painkiller she had handed him a second ago, "Learnt something new."

"Without me, you would have probably just continued and gotten yourself killed with all the shards." She laughed teasingly.

"Without you, I wouldn't _have_ glass shards in my back in first place."

A sudden silence overcame them, and Sasuke cursed himself for being so ignorant of her feelings.

She felt guilty enough as it was.

"Sorry...I didn't meant to-"

"Is okay" she intervened, "it _is_ my fault. I promise I'll be more careful next time..." Her fingers lingered on his taught skin, the touch warming him up pleasantly, "Just...I don't want you to die on me."

"Because you'd be all alone." He glanced over his shoulder, smirking once more just to see her stare at him with a sincere facial expression.

"Because I like you a lot." She smiled, feeling the urge to lean towards him to place a chaste kiss onto his cheek, which she did.

Sakura got up once more, collecting a few items from the store and placing them inside her pack.

Meanwhile, Sasuke sat, paralysed, face flushed to the brim as he listened to his heart echo resoundingly within his ribcage.

* * *

_**A/N: If you like this story you would REVIEW**_

_**If you love this story you would MOST DEFINTELY REVIEW!**_

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_**:3**_


	7. Bravery

_**A/N: Next chapter up! I'm doing my best with number 8!  
**_

**_Thanks for all the support so far!_**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Bravery**

If you'd ask him what had changed in the time span of nearly two weeks, Sasuke would have had a story to tell.

A story worthy to be mentioned in his autobiography, if he ever made it to write one.

And found a person to _read_ it, too.

Not like there were many left.

But if you questioned him what alterations took place just within two days, especially concerning a specific rose-coloured girl, he would not know what to say.

She morphed from a clumsy, intimidated wannabe zombie-fighter to a full blown apocalypse-queen.

With all the shiny bits and pieces.

"Over here!" She called, dedication reflected within her voice as she pulled Sasuke along inside what seemed to be a police station, five or six zombies in tow.

They groaned and bellowed after them in their weird, stupefied language, some racing like marathon runners, others like crippled tortoises.

Most likely because some _were_ crippled.

Sasuke did not stop to consider their next actions, not questioning Sakura's speedy decisions as they jolted over desks, crashing expensive technology to the ground, hopping up stairs and bursting out of windows, bounding onto roof tops not far off.

All the while, she held his hand in hers.

Sasuke did not know when all this '_holding hands_' business started – with her simply claiming his and not letting go, and him not finding the strength or will to argue.

Why, he did not know.

He did not want to ponder it either.

The feeling that reverberated inside his body was worth the ignorance.

Roof top tiles crunched and splintered, sliding down the slopes and down onto roads, cluttering audibly for all the zombies in the neighbourhood to hear.

Sasuke winced at several of those give-away noises. But Sakura kept pushing on, galloping along the thin rim of the roof.

"Ready?" She called, not awaiting a response as both of them hurdled towards a lower, flat roof top belonging to an apartment building.

They rolled onto the ground, Sasuke muffling a cry as his sore back came into contact with the unruly concrete.

"Are you alright?" Sakura's worry-interlaced inquiry came.

She stood towering over him, holding out her thin, yet firm hand.

He nodded grimly, not liking how their positions as _weakling_ and _hero_ kind of changed overnight.

Nor did he enjoy wearing a white button up shirt.

He was not the kind of person who did well in _white_ clothing, preferring dark, sinister colours that scared people away.

This just made him seem tame and friendly.

Not his style.

But they were not able to make a grand shopping tour around the mall, what with hundreds of neon-bastards flocking around. Sakura grabbed the nearest shirt, luckily hitting Sasuke's size, and that was all he had for options.

_'Great...'_

The rosette was already at the fire case stairs, making her eager way downwards.

Sasuke followed leisurely.

Brave Sakura was all the more pumped up than Scared Sakura. That was a positive aspect.

And even though the Uchiha _knew_ he would never word it out aloud, feeling too much embarrassment alone at the pathetic thought; but he missed her hapless attitude.

That she relied on his intelligence and strength to get them through the night had been, alright, stressful, but also soothing.

It reminded Sasuke that there was someone out there who _needed_ him, who would _miss_ him if he died and even grieve for a short moment.

After so many years of solitude, it was an alleviation.

Pushing aside the fact that he was somewhat, somehow, maybe, just a little, tiny, minuscule bit fond of the girl.

He shook that thought out of his system as fast as it had come.

They finally reached the bottom of the endlessly winding staircase, thumping onto the ground.

Sakura ducked, glancing left and right cautiously.

She pointed mutedly to her left, nodding at him. He nodded in return.

They went that way.

"So, where exactly do we need to go?" She asked lowly, not wanting to attract any undesired attention.

Sasuke glanced up at the sky, marvelling at how the sun still had the strength to blast down ruthlessly onto their strained skin.

"You see the tower in the centre of the city?" Sasuke nudged his nose in said direction.

"Yeah."

"It's the symbol of Ame. It's also a secret laboratory. We'll find answers in the top room."

The pinkette focused her eyes onto the tower, her brain obviously doing some calculations, "That's about...a day or two." she mustered.

"Plus minus some hours, depending on our zombie-friends." Sasuke grunted.

His back began to itch as the wounds were closing. It was nearly worse than the stabbing pain.

"Any specific route we should take?"

"The one that gets us there alive."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Then I'll lead."

He arched a quizzical eyebrow to that, "Really?"

"Yeah, I've been here before many times as a kid. I know my way around."

"Hence the reason you were so eager to _get_ here."

She nodded with a fading smile, walking in front of him.

May Zeus blast him with lightning, but he felt a microscopic hint of disappointment when she did _not_ reach out for his hand.

"Which direction then, great leader?" he teased, smirking at the back of her head.

"This way!"

And they trudged into a gloomy alley.

* * *

She was sobbing by now, burying her face within the palms of her hands.

"It's all my fault." She whined, shaking her head miserably.

"Sakura." He was supposed to lift her spirits, but the monotonous tone in his voice did not want to escape.

Said girl simply shook with grievance.

Sasuke sighed, re-examining their situation.

Sakura had led them along a glorious pathway through the middle of the city, across some rather dubious side-roads and alleys when a few zombies burst out from the shades, attacking at full speed.

They were whacking and tackling, not having much of a problem with those brainless lunatics, until Sakura took a wrong step, letting herself be led to the edge of a dead-end and suddenly tumbling down an eight metre hole together with her solemn companion.

The landing was not hard – she smacked against Sasuke's body, who roared in pain as his back tore open.

With tears and constantly blaming herself for her naiveté, she re-bandaged his back, murmuring "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." like a mantra.

"Stop crying." Sasuke muttered in annoyance.

It was not helping, but he simply was not good with wailing people.

He never usually had to cope with those.

"But if it weren't for me-"

"Then many things would not have happened. Good and bad." The Uchiha stepped towards her, crouching in front of the rosette and placing a hand onto her shoulder, "You did the right thing. You didn't know there was a hole here. I'm surprised they have not come down yet to devour us." he peeked upwards towards their only source of light, "I guess they know it would not help them much. After all, we aren't defenceless."

The raven-haired boy stood up, mustering the ragged wall to his side, covered in thin, fuming needles of multiple colours.

The zombies did not seem eager to attack them physically anymore, as they usually did.

They were shooting out those needles whenever they could, thankfully missing the teens at each attempt.

Sasuke did not want to consider what might happen if they hit their targets.

"Well, now we best find some way out of this cramping hole, or we'll hunger to death by the time those bastards know what to do with us." He returned to mustering the walls again.

Getting a good grip seemed futile. Even though several slabs of stone stuck out at the weirdest angles, the wall rose to a rather smooth, flat area of at least three metres. No hold for feet nor hands.

The boy sighed in frustration, feeling anger boil up inside at their useless situation so that he kicked an astray stone near his shoe.

Straight away he noticed the lighter, thin colour that now appeared within the earth.

He frowned, bending down carefully; mindful of his throbbing back, and inspected the newly discovered item.

He began to claw at the earth, protruding a thick, healthy looking rope.

"Look at that..." He uttered with slight relief in his voice.

Sakura sniffed besides him, rubbing her puffy eyes, "What...?"

"A rope." Sasuke continued to dig through the earth, freeing the object from its muddied prisoner.

Sakura, only now having taken notice of what Sasuke was doing, stepped beside him and began to help.

It didn't take much time for them to be holding a twenty metre long, curled piece of rope in their hands.

"We can get out of here now!" Sakura spoke gleefully, somewhat more cheerful.

"We just need to attach it to something." Sasuke intervened, gazing back up into the sky.

"A stone!" Sakura called, grasping a hefty piece of clotted earth and freeing it a little from the grime, "There's a street lamp near the hole. If we somehow manage to fling it around it..." She trailed off, Sasuke getting the idea.

"Alright. Climb onto my shoulders" he quickly bound the rope around the bulky item, knotting it thoroughly, "and swing it around the lamp."

"W-What?" She gazed at him with doubtful eyes.

"Sakura, from down here we won't be able to reach it. And you can't lift me."

"What about your back...?"

"Anything is better than dying down here." he threw in, Sakura not responding as she knew he was right.

He got down to his knees, the rope and stone in his hand as Sakura climbed his back as carefully as she could, trying to avoid any of his wounds.

He winced, she halted, but he urged her to continue, and soon he had her lifted on his blades.

"Gee Christ, the apocalypse has not been good with you. You weigh nothing." he muttered, not realising how flushed Sakura became due to that comment.

He handed her the stone, trying to peer up as far as possible, "Don't worry, you'll make it."

She nodded, gulping.

He heard how she swung the stone, then set it off, the object flying out of the hole and towards the large black lamp which stood idly by.

A clanking sound was heard, Sakura pulled.

It sat.

"Yes!" She cheered, Sasuke hissing as she kicked into his side by accident, "Sorry!"

"Is okay."

The pinkette got down from his shoulders, now gazing up with a frown.

"So...we climb out?" Once more she stared at him with huge, fear-struck eyes.

He did not want her to be so frightened. He wanted to take that away from her. She had been so brave just a while ago...

"Hold onto me." He spoke, stepping in front of her, "Put your arms around my neck, I'll pull us out."

"What!?" It was an incredulous offer, "That'll never work!"

"Of course it will. You weigh nothing." He smirked, and she smiled in return.

Gradually, feeling a little shy, the rosette hooked her arms around the boys body, grabbing on tightly.

"Off we go." He whispered, the rope in his grasp as he stemmed himself against the side of the hole and began to climb.

* * *

_**A/N: Here we go! Updates might be slow, I have no internet – am currently at a friend's place.**_

**_Bear with me and please don't forget to review! They motivate me!_**


	8. Night With No Stars

_**A/N: Curse me for being so busy these days with jack sh*t that I could not update.**_

_**Hence, here the next chapter with the prompts "Impulsive", "Night With No Stars", "Silver Lining" and "Drowning" all in one! Called it the second prompt though because that one sounds so poetic! :D**_

_**Tomorrow shall be a combination of prompts 14 and 15!**_

* * *

**Chapter 8: A Night With No Stars**

It had taken them several tries, in all honesty.

Sasuke slithered down the first time he heaved them up, burning his hands to a state of red chapped-ness and blisters, but he ignored all worry Sakura served him with and just went on.

The rope came undone a second time, obviously not tied around the thick stone properly.

Sasuke was to blame, Sakura muttered it several times, having her trying over and over again to swing it around the lamp sturdily with a _new_ clump.

After Nightfall came tumbling over them, both Sasuke and Sakura were exhausted and could barely keep their eyes open – feeling them sting and bulge with strain.

Sasuke suggested to camp somewhere safe; for the growls of multicoloured mutants was not far off.

"Seems like they have figured out what to do with us." Sasuke groaned, grasping Sakura by the elbow and tearing her along the edge of the city and towards what seemed to be a nice, huge park.

The green grass shone brilliantly under the moonlight, washing the scattered, low willow trees in a faint quicksilver glow; blooming flowers seeming white and illuminescent.

"We should rest here, in the heart of the park. It's like a little forest."

And indeed, as the trudged on relentlessly, they came to what appeared like a clearing, with diverse trees circling the soft spot of even, plain grass.

"With _what_ to lie on?" Sakura asked, grand malachites looking at him expectantly.

Even with only the dim moonlight as their source, he could clearly see the spots of agitated amber radiating inside those orbs.

He shrugged, "Nothing, just the grass. It's a warm night."

"_Guys_." Sakura complained, rolling her eyes as she plunged her hands inside the backpack she still carried with her.

From it she pulled what looked like a large, stuffy duvet.

Sasuke questioned himself with an arched brow where the _hell_ she had picked _that_ up and _when_, but felt no strength inside him to speak those words physically and listen to the story.

"It's quite big, for your luck." She spoke pointedly, spreading it out on the floor for them to lay on.

Sasuke did not retort with anything at all as they both tried to make it as comfortable for their bodies as is possible on a thin duvet laying in a park's clearing with glowing zombies surrounding you from every direction.

No hissing and moaning to be heard, which was a good sign, the boy hoped.

Laying on their backs in utter silence, the raven-haired teenager enjoyed a total muteness of about three minutes before his vibrant pinkette friend piped up again.

"No stars..." she murmured somewhat astonished.

Sasuke first directed his face towards her, frowning in puzzlement before he redirected them towards the sky.

Indeed, there were no sparkling dots littering the sky as per usual. The full moon shone with evident brightness, making it seem like a normal night, but upon close inspection, there was nothing.

No twinkle, no hint of a fading light.

Just the moon and the vast darkness named heaven.

"Strange..." Sasuke rumbled, surprised at himself that he actually _cared_ to consider something so trivial.

Zombie apocalypse and he focused on the reason for missing stars at night.

'_Probably just nature catching up with the world's disaster_' Sasuke thought dejectedly.

"I was seven the last time I noticed a night with no stars." Sakura whispered, sounding nostalgic.

She probably was.

Anything from the past was deemed to be a good, heart-warming memory.

At least for _her_.

"And what did you do then?" Why did he bother to ask?

He did not care, after all.

Or did he?

The funny thing was, Sasuke was not _sure_ if he did _not_ care.

"I sat in our garden and stared up all night. I fell asleep somewhere along it all, and my nanny carried me inside into my bedroom, where I woke up."

"Your nanny?" He would never be able to ditch that disinterested tone in his voice, no matter what he felt.

Or how hard he tried.

"I didn't have much contact towards my parents when I was young. They weren't interesting in me until I joined the Academy at _Konoha._" there was an evident hint of bitterness as she muttered those words, eyes still fixated onto the starless sky.

"Rich, timeless parents?"

"Yup. I'm the typical wealthy kid with typical wealthy parents that don't give a shit about who farts where in their household."

"I doubt _normal_ parents would."

"_Metaphorically_ speaking, Sasuke."

He could tell she was rolling her eyes again without needing to look.

And she could tell he was smirking again.

"So, how come you are _not_ the _typical_ rotten child such parents usually have?"

The rosette shrugged, pouting her lips, "I'm just special that way..."

At that point, she turned her head sideways, glancing at Sasuke as they lay on their backs.

"What about you?" she hummed softly, giving her voice a nice, rounded edge.

"You know all of me, I suppose." he grunted in response.

"_No_, not _that_. I mean _before_ that..." He could sense the nervousness within her voice now, as she felt awkward and most likely reprimanded herself innerly for asking such a question without much thought.

"I don't want to talk about it." He somehow hoped, shocking himself, that she did not find the answer biting.

Usually it was always in his intention to offend people. Why not her?

What made her the special exception?

"Then another day." She shrugged happily, still staring at him.

Not standing the burn of her emerald gaze on his temple anymore, he went to glower back at her, hoping that would intimidate the girl.

But it did not quite work out the way he wanted it to.

Instead of void-like, onyx eyes boring into aquamarine, showing her her place, piercing

jade orbs were nailing him.

Her faintly rosy, if pale cheeks (from malnutrition or the moonlight, he could not be sure) and glittering, plump lips shone from her heart-shaped face, eyes too large for an average person, bombarding with too many emotions for him to count on two hands.

"You'll tell me, won't you, Sasuke-kun?" Her voice was low and melodic, and Sasuke felt his heart thump a little too strongly.

What was _wrong_ with him?

"_Kun?" _He chastised himself mentally for the harshness of his spoken word.

"Yeah. I think it sounds better than just plain _Sasuke_."

"It brings in an unnecessary formality." he intervened.

"Formalities aren't _unnecessary_."

"During an apocalypse they are anything _but_ necessary."

She giggled heartily upon his retaliation.

"So funny?" Smirk.

"Yes, you are." Her laughter calmed a little, "You act so independent and all _lone-wolf-warrior_ like and in reality you are just plain cute."

She was not surprised to find him glare and frown simultaneously at her as she spoke those rather absurd words.

"_What_!?"

Sakura shook her head, still highly amused, "Oh Sasuke." And before she could fully comprehend what she was doing, she had leaned into him, planting a kiss plumply onto his rather soft, warm lips.

As soon as the impulsive action was over, Sakura's heart literally halted in its beating, she staring wide-eyed at the Uchiha next to her who still had that nonchalant expression on his face.

Even though there was something coursing through his eyes, and he did not move at all.

"I-I..." the pinkette had absolutely no idea what she could possibly answer to give the haste handling a logical reasoning.

"Let's go to sleep." Sasuke whispered, turning his head back upwards and closing his eyes.

Glad to have evaded an impossible discussion, Sakura obliged, hoping they both could simply forget about this in the morning.

* * *

It seemed unforgotten, the events that had occurred nimbly last night.

Both parties were mute all the way through _Ame, _even as Zombies came and attacked, both of them professionally dealing with the monsters.

The first word that day came from Sakura, reflexively, as they stood at the entrance to the great towering building at the centre, gazing up in amazement.

"Silver lining..." She mumbled, obviously somewhat mystified.

"_What?" _ Sasuke creased his eyebrows questioningly as he seemed to do more often than ever during their _adventure_.

"Well, we'll receive important answers to questions about this apocalypse in here, right? Maybe even how to...I don't know..._undo_ it all."

The hopefulness she acted with rubbed off on Sasuke, who nodded with the faintest, weakest smile, which was left unnoticed by the pinkette.

"I hope." And they entered.

Everything inside was in it's exact order, they both registered.

No item had been moved, nothing had been turned upside down or destroyed – the zombies had not entered here, which made the suspicion within Sasuke grow with every minute they spent longer inside the entry hall.

"Top floor?" Sakura questioned, standing in front of the elevator.

"Yes, and _that_" he pointed to the metallic doors in front of her, "is a _very_ bad idea."

"Oops." Sakura placed a delicate hand in front of her lips, having once more acted reflexively rather than logically.

"Stairs are this way." Sasuke pointed next to her and they both began the climb.

More emergency lights than per usual filled the inside of the building, making it quite light. The sun outside was just rising, bringing in some extra brightness which crawled in a hazy, orange drawl over all the items around them.

And on the first floor, those consisted of waiting-room chairs, small glass coffee tables and plastic flowers together with stacks of magazines and newspaper articles.

Doors appeared rhythmically as the teenagers wandered towards the second set of stairs.

"Patient rooms?" Sakura inquired, a thin pink eyebrow raised.

"Something like that." they both headed onwards and climbed the second pair of marble stairs.

Everything was pristine and exact, decorated with a lot of thought towards minimalism. It somehow awed and saddened Sakura; for it was impressive but also..._colourless_.

The third floor was strewn with offices – the typical desks and computers in cubicles that you usually found within the buildings of great companies.

It went on for hours, so it seemed, Sakura's legs screaming and aching miserably after every further step she took, just wanting to collapse to the ground and never use her most-likely swollen feet ever again.

"We're nearly there." Sasuke encouraged and held out a hand towards her as she puffed tiredly three steps below him.

Surprised, but also delighted, Sakura took it, having him pull her up and continue their seemingly endless journey hand-in-hand to what finally was the top.

The top floor was exactly as Sakura knew it from typical movies.

A grand, stylish room with a waiting-corner, potted plants; both real and fake, pictures and diplomas on the wall, a small secretary-desk on the far side, grand windows revealing a breathtaking sight over _Ame-City _and two wonderfully etched, wooden doors leading towards an even more elegant office.

Sasuke kicked the doors open unceremoniously and marched towards the desk.

There stood a silver laptop, still active and squirming from over-heat.

"Fist electronic device actually _working_." It occurred to the pinkette then that _all_ electricity everywhere was cut out; at least at every place they had been.

She wondered why, and why this laptop was still running after so many weeks.

Sasuke bent over the laptop, clicking and tapping onto the keyboard, his face being lighted by the bleached blue beam it cast upon it.

Sakura waited, tilting on her heels, inspecting the office more vigorously.

Before she could consider the considerable difference between this office and the rest of the interior design of the establishment, Sasuke interrupted, "I knew it..." he whispered like a curse.

Sakura was quite curious, naturally, her heart hammering in anticipation, "What is it?"

After several seconds of Sasuke still eyeing the laptop screen, he stood straight, sighing and rubbing the back of his neck.

"My theory was right."

"What theory?"

He sighed again, directing his eyes onto her and keeping the stare, "The virus that apparently broke out and killed a few people south from _Konoha._ They were making a big hype out of it, having conjured an antidote and now advising people to come and get the injection."

Sakura frowned at the Uchiha, pondering within the depths of her mind for the reason this story sounded so terribly familiar.

_Of course!_

"You don't mean-"

"VX12." Sasuke voiced, his black eyes boring into her, "That was the cure. Everyone got themselves vaccinated. Except for me and you, who, naturally, with a trypanophobia going on, would have trouble getting themselves injected."

"I don't understand" she was not sure why her voice began to tremble so badly all of a sudden, "What's this got to do with the zombies?"

Sasuke sighed _again_, obviously finding this hard himself, "The virus was a farce. The _cure_ – VX12 – was the _real_ virus. There are some chemicals and agents in there that wreck serious havoc within a person's body. Somehow, these scientists managed to turn normal, healthy people into decaying, glowing monsters. I'm not sure how it works."

"And we are the only people who did _not_ get themselves injected...?" Sakura shook her head, not discovering the sense in it all. Usually, _two_ people were never the _only_ ones who avoided a vaccination.

Not like she was the only living species with _trypanophobia. _

"If you like it or not, this world is not free. We are all being watched all the time. The powerful people of this nation always know what's going on everywhere, with everyone. The scientists of this laboratory hacked themselves into their observation system" to prove his point, he clicked something on the laptop and swerved it around, presenting her with folders over folders of personal files, "quite deviously, and checked on that _everyone_ got themselves vaccinated before starting the experiment."

Sakura shook her head, disbelievingly, not even blinking as she took several steps back towards the entrance of the office.

She could tell Sasuke's sympathetic look as she shook, "What...? I don't..." gaping like a fish, Sakura stared harshly towards the ground for several seconds, "But _we_ were not injected..."

"Simple" He grumbled, turning to walk around the desk, "I had myself registered as _vaccinated_ in my medical file. I cheated by hacking into the system myself and pretending, when in reality I _hadn't. _I take it you had an appointment but skipped. They most likely marked you vaccinated by accident. The fear of this virus was so grand even the shyest would go to get themselves protected. Not knowing it was a trap." Sakura could clearly hear the resentment he spoke with.

"So, thinking we _all_ were vaccinated, they started their experiment...how?" She did not know why, but she wanted to keep a distance between the Uchiha, thus taking a further step backwards.

"I don't know how it works, there is some sort of reactor within the antidote that, upon signal from the headquarters, causes the VX12 to spread into the system and thus unfold its gruesome power."

A wave of white haziness befell Sakura, and she slumped down on a chair in front of the desk, holding her head steadily.

To her astonishment, Sasuke knelt in front of her, trying to get her to look at him, "I know this sounds crazy. But it's the truth."

"How did the laptop tell you all this."

"It told me nothing, it was only evidence to my theory. I knew it beforehand."

"How?" She was desperate by now, gazing at him pleadingly.

She just wanted to _understand_.

Sakura was not eager to become a part of a _Resident Evil_ movie follower.

"One of the scientists...was my older brother, Itachi."

* * *

Saying she felt shaken after what had happened a few minutes ago was an understatement.

She was shaking in her boots, so to speak.

Situations vividly depicted in typical catastrophic Sci-Fi movies suddenly became a deadly, slicing reality.

And they cut sharper than any item Sakura had horridly viewed before.

"_There is a scientist south of Konoha, in Tanigakure, who taught my brother everything he knew. They call him 'The Genie'."_

"Why that?"

"Because they say he came from another realm, and he is an **actual** genie who grants wishes and all. A mad, crazy, but highly intelligent scientist. He surely knows how to stop this apocalypse."

It sounded like something from a fairytale, a silver lining so faint and unrealistic as it touches the clouds that you think it must be a dream.

_All_ of it.

But it was not.

And by now, Sakura was pretty ready to believe _anything_ was true.

"So now we travel South-"

Before Sakura could properly finish her thought, both of them reaching the bottom of the staircase leading to the third floor, a crashing and banging sound, as if something was thrusting itself against the door to their left, interrupted.

A typical scenario, really.

The pinkette wondered why she was not used to it by now.

Zombies poured out of the now trampled door, growling hungrily – or whatever they were – at Sasuke and Sakura, stumbling towards them.

"Hurry!" Sasuke shouted, tearing her with him into a side-corridor and chasing along as the illuminated mutants followed suit.

Yet their escape seemed futile – next to cutting down and smashing enemies as they were on the run, more and more monsters came, suddenly surrounding Sasuke and Sakura like a pack of eager wolves.

"What now?" The rosette stuttered, standing closely next to the Uchiha.

He had a rather displeased facial expression, holding his _katana_ steadily in his hands.

Just as he was about to word something, most likely ready to fight until death, the floor underneath both teens began to grumble and vibrate, until cracks slithered along rapidly, thick slabs of marble and concrete crashing and giving way to the ground underneath, creating a large hole.

Sasuke jerked, in the middle of the sinking stone, as Sakura skittered away due to the sudden angle and landed at the edge on her rear.

"SASUKE!" She screeched as she saw him grasp the edge of the concrete, stone cracking terrifically from the third floor and through the second until it plunged soundly into some sort of liquid.

Zombies all around them dropped like rain into the hole or fell back, stunned and struck themselves.

Sakura tried to get up, wanting to pull Sasuke out of his otherwise evident demise but the earth kept shaking, the whole building roaring discontentedly as further concrete came falling down on them.

Finally, Sasuke lost his hold, plummeting down into, as Sakura saw after she crawled hastily to the edge, a large, greenish-yellow tank.

He sank beneath the fluid.

"Sasuke!" She roared again, her voice already aching.

The whole building seemed to call with her, churning and moaning with movement.

But the Uchiha never rose from the waters.

* * *

_**A/N: Now I sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter, found it exciting and twisting, and will review in return!**_

**_Because reviews are what makes me smile all day long!_**

_**And tell me this story is worth updating at all... **_


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